Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919)
La Jardinière verte (The Green Jardinière)
1882
Oil on canvas, 92.7 x 67.9 cm
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo
Like his landscape Road at Wargemont (also in the Museum’s collection), Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Green Jardinière features jewel-like tones and fluid brushwork. The young woman who sits opposite the large planter of the title, the strap of her dress provocatively slipping off her shoulder, is Aline Charigot (1859–1915). She was a seamstress who frequently modeled for Renoir. They began to live together in 1882, the same year Renoir painted this portrait, and eventually married in 1890. Renoir made another version of the painting, which differs in the size of the figure and the addition of a cat. Made around the time that Renoir had achieved enough success with his portraits to be free of earlier financial worries, it nonetheless contains an element of thriftiness: he recycled the canvas, painting this image over a still life by another, unknown, artist. (TMA)
See also:
• Charigot, Aline (1859-1915)