Houses by the Sea 1912

"Houses by the Sea" was created by Pierre-Auguste Renoir sometime in his life with oil on canvas. It’s a flurry of brushstrokes in earthy tones of ochre, sienna, and cerulean blue, like the colors of a faded summer. You can almost feel the sun-baked earth and smell the salt in the air. Renoir wasn't trying to hide the process in this painting, he builds form with visible dabs and dashes of paint, you can see the physicality of the medium. There's a section along the shoreline where the blue of the water meets the sandy beach and it is rendered with these short, choppy strokes, creating a sense of movement and energy. It’s like he’s trying to capture not just what he sees, but how it feels to be there, the light, the air, the heat. I see echoes of Turner in Renoir's exploration of light and atmosphere. But Renoir brings a sense of intimacy, a focus on human experience that feels very contemporary. It’s a reminder that art isn’t just about representation; it’s about feeling, about conveying a mood and an experience through the language of paint.