Woman under a Tree 1883

Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted this landscape scene, "Woman under a Tree," using oil on canvas. The rough texture comes through the visible brushstrokes, as Renoir moves away from the academic painting standards of his predecessors. What we see is not just a landscape but an impression of one, made physical through expressive mark-making. This approach to painting emerged alongside new industrial methods of pigment production. Suddenly, paint was readily available in tubes, allowing artists to work outside of the studio, ‘en plein air’. This impacted the ways that artists, like Renoir, engaged with new materials, and pushed the boundaries between fine art and craft. Rather than preparing his own paints in the studio, Renoir turned to a factory to produce his materials, and focused on his own physical work applying paint to canvas. Paint became less precious as a substance, and his application of it more spontaneous, more impulsive. It is a freedom we still value today, a century and a half later.