Young Girl Reading 1888

Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted this oil on canvas titled 'Young Girl Reading' at an unknown date. Renoir, as an impressionist painter in France, was working in a cultural milieu that was just beginning to open up educational opportunities for women. Female literacy rates were rising and there was much debate about the intellectual capacity of women. The girl’s downcast eyes could represent female introspection. The artist's emphasis on her domesticity suggests conventional views about a woman's role in society. But the painting itself, as a piece of impressionist art, moves away from academic art that was supported by official institutions. It also suggests that impressionism's focus on scenes of everyday life, like women reading, was part of a wider movement of social change in France. To more fully understand this painting, we could examine literacy rates in France at the time it was made, and research the debates that were going on about education for women, so that we can understand how such debates impacted the production of art.