Self-Portrait 1875

Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted this self-portrait on canvas in France during the late 19th or early 20th century. As with many self-portraits, this work offers us an intriguing insight into how the artist wished to be perceived. Renoir presents himself as a serious and respectable member of the Parisian bourgeoisie. The loose brushwork is typical of the impressionist style that Renoir helped to develop, but he also nods to more traditional portraiture with his formal attire. It is hard to know for certain what motivated Renoir to create this image; perhaps it was for professional reasons, to gain acceptance into establishment art circles; or perhaps for personal reasons, to explore his own identity. To understand this image fully we might consider the shifting status of the artist in French society at this time. How did the institutional structures of the art world – the academies and salons – shape artistic production? And in what ways did artists like Renoir challenge those institutions? These are some of the questions that social art historians try to answer, using a range of archival resources.