Pierre-Auguste Renoir
French, 1841–1919
Portrait of Madame Monet (Madame Claude Monet Reading)
c. 1874
During the early 1870s, Renoir and Monet often painted side by side, producing images of the same subject and sometimes using each other—and other family members—as models. In Renoir’s informal portrait of Camille Monet, the painter’s wife sits on a comfortable sofa reading a paperback book. Small touches of color cover the canvas like stitches in a tapestry. A blue line runs down the middle of Mme Monet’s dress, echoing the angle of the Japanese fans on the wall.
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 24 5/16 x 19 13/16 in. (61.7 x 50.3 cm) Frame: 34 x 29 7/8 x 3 1/4 in. (86.4 x 75.9 x 8.3 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.612 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Portrait of Madame Monet (Madame Claude Monet Reading), c. 1874, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.612
Select Bibliography
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EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY
Provenance
The artist, sold to Durand-Ruel, before 1891¹; [Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York, before 1891–1933, sold to Clark, 2 Feb. 1933]; Robert Sterling Clark (1933–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. 1. The painting was re-entered as part of Durand-Ruel’s stock on 25 Aug. 1891, indicating that it had been purchased earlier.
