Portrait of Coco 1905

This is Pierre-Auguste Renoir's portrait of Coco, painted with oils, we don't know when. Coco, a baby, emerges from browns and beiges. The colours are soft, luminous. Renoir builds form with discrete touches of colour, one next to the other. Look closely and you can see how the painting comes into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I think he’s a genius, so I can easily see him gently stroking the canvas, his mind in tune with the emerging form. The paint isn't too thick, it's thin, like a watercolour in some ways. I feel a wonderful sense of looking at it, and a simultaneous sense of touch; an invitation to stroke the surface of the canvas. His gaze is cast downward, and a melancholy feeling permeates the work. But maybe it's just me projecting myself onto the painting. And maybe that's the point. Painters are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting is embodied expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.