Jeune femme tressant ses cheveux (1876)

Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919)

Jeune femme tressant ses cheveux (Young Woman Braiding Her Hair)
1876
Oil on canvas, 55.5 x 46 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

A young woman with peachy skin shaded with ice blue and pale, mint green is shown from the chest up wearing a low-cut, white garment in this vertical portrait painting. The painting is created with blended brushstrokes, giving it a soft, blurred effect. The woman’s body is angled to our left and she looks off in that direction with blue eyes, her head tipped a little toward us. She has a straight nose and full, rosy pink lips. Thick, blond bangs sweep across her forehead, and her hair is partially pulled back. She holds one long lock with her left hand, on our right, in front of her shoulder. One small gold ball earring adorns the ear we can see. Her low-cut, white garment falls off her shoulders and is belted with a blue sash at her waist. The background is made up of a field of royal and turquoise blue behind her head and shoulders, and rust brown behind her body. The artist signed and dated the work with dark paint in the lower left corner: “Renoir.76.” (NGA)