A LOOK AT

The Umbrella Painting

pierre-auguste renoir

Renoir was a French painter from the city of Limoges in Haute-Vienne, France. He was born on February 25, 1841, and died on December 3, 1919.

context

During his Impressionist period, he painted landscapes and everyday subject matter of people in their everyday settings, notably of times like dances and lunches or people dressed in their fashionable attire.

formal analysis of the artwork

subject matter

The Umbrellas is set in a Parisian street where throngs of people are walking in all directions. Most of the people are holding umbrellas shielding them from the cloudy and rainy weather.

color

The color scheme for Renoir’s famous umbrella painting, The Umbrellas, appears earthy and consists mostly of various blues and grays with browns, greens, some reds, and whites.

texture

Renoir painted in two distinct styles, which is evident through his brushstrokes.

line

There are a variety of straight, curved, and diagonal lines in The Umbrellas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Some of these lines are more fluid and naturalistic, otherwise termed organic.

shape & form

There are various organic and geometric shapes. The figures have naturalistic shapes and forms, which contrasts with the more geometric shapes of the umbrellas, the circular shape of the hoop, and the cubic shape of the bandbox.

space

Renoir filled the compositional space with figures in The Umbrellas painting, creating a sense of dynamism. Furthermore, there is a sense of depth created through various perspectival techniques.