Lovers 1875

Pierre-Auguste Renoir made this painting, Lovers, in France, though we can't be sure exactly when. In it, we see a couple in a verdant landscape, lost in their own private world. The impressionists like Renoir were painting scenes of everyday life, but they were also challenging the art establishment. The French Academy had very strict rules about what was considered good art. They believed that art should be about grand historical or mythological subjects, and that it should be painted in a very realistic style. But Renoir and the other impressionists were more interested in capturing the fleeting moments of modern life, and they developed a looser, more painterly style to do so. Renoir’s paintings were often criticized for being too informal, but he was popular with a new class of collectors who were looking for something different. These paintings reflect the changing social conditions that shaped artistic production at the time. To understand this painting better, we might look at exhibition reviews or letters to and from the artist, gaining insight into the social and institutional context in which it was made.