Artwork
Still Life with Peaches and Grapes
Still Life with Peaches and Grapes is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It dates from 1891 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition emphasizes the tactile quality of fruit skin and the subtle play of light on foliage, typical of Renoir’s later still‑life experiments.
The painting presents a modest still‑life arrangement centered on ripe peaches and clusters of grapes, rendered in oil on canvas in 1881. The composition emphasizes the tactile quality of fruit skin and the subtle play of light on foliage, typical of Renoir’s later still‑life experiments. Measuring 54 × 65.1 cm, the work was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has a documented ownership history that includes Paul Rosenberg, Étienne Bignou, Sam Salz and Edwin Vogel.
Its subject reflects the everyday abundance of bourgeois domestic life, while the inclusion of both stone and vine fruits may allude to themes of ripeness and transience within the genre of still life.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting on canvas measuring 54 × 65.1 cm, executed in 1881. The handling shows Renoir’s characteristic soft-focus modeling with delicate, blended transitions between light and shadow, particularly evident in the peaches and grapes, where the brushwork remains fluid yet controlled to convey tactile form. The composition favors warm, luminous hues, ochres, pinks, and purples, arranged in a balanced, diagonal arrangement that guides the eye across the fruit and drapery.
The still life’s stylistic qualities reflect a transitional moment in Renoir’s oeuvre, moving beyond Impressionist immediacy toward a more structured, classical solidity in the depiction of form and space.
History & Provenance
Created by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1881, Still Life with Peaches and Grapes is an oil-on-canvas painting measuring 54 by 65.1 centimeters. The work's ownership history traces a path through prominent dealers and collectors before entering a major public collection. It was previously held by Paul Rosenberg, who was followed by Étienne Bignou and Sam Salz.
The painting later passed to collector Edwin Vogel. Currently, the work is part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains a key example of Renoir's still life genre from the early 1880s.
Still Life with Peaches and Grapes is housed in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is catalogued as part of the museum's painting holdings. The work entered the museum through a series of private dealers, including Paul Rosenberg, Étienne Bignou, Sam Salz, and Edwin Vogel, before its acquisition. Its dimensions measure 54 cm by 65.1 cm, and it is executed in oil on canvas in 1881.
Exhibition records for the painting are not detailed in the available documentation, and no specific exhibition history is documented in the sources consulted.
Overview
Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Still Life with Peaches and Grapes, painted in 1891, is an oil painting that exemplifies the artist's engagement with the still life genre. This work is part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It presents a vibrant arrangement of fruit, characteristic of Renoir's later period, where he often explored domestic scenes and natural forms with a rich palette.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style.
