The Cup of Chocolate 1878

Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted "The Cup of Chocolate" using oil on canvas, with the soft feathery brushstrokes typical of Impressionism. Consider the textures here: the fuzzy background, the woman's velvet dress, the glossy china on the table. These are all evoked with relatively simple touches of paint. The only area of genuine material complexity is the textile held in the woman's lap. We can imagine it might have been mass produced in a factory. This little carpet stands in contrast to the leisured intimacy of the scene. Renoir's painting gives us a snapshot of bourgeois life in the late 19th century. Yet, it's also a product of its time, made possible by the industrial production of art supplies like paint and canvas. This allows artists to respond to the changing social landscape, even while being sustained by it. The artist's creative labor and skill contrasts with the mechanized production of textiles, reflecting the complex relationship between art, craft, and industry.