Renoir: The Body, The Senses

June 8–September 22, 2019

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Cézanne, Degas, Renoir

Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, and Renoir were the greatest exponents of the nude within the Impressionist circle, though each would interpret the subject through his own particular approach. All three studied life drawing as part of their early academic training, even if Cézanne, at the Académie Suisse “made nudes that prompted laughter,” as Camille Pissarro later recalled. Cézanne’s interest in equilibrium, weight, and form dominated his canvases, with light and color also playing prominent roles. Degas’s commitment to Naturalism and concern for pose and gesture permeate his approach. And Renoir, as brilliantly demonstrated by Study. Torso of a Woman in the Sunlight was fascinated by the body as a site of multiple sensory experiences.