Artwork
Girl with a Basket of Oranges
Girl with a Basket of Oranges is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It dates from 1889 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: Renoir
About this work
History & Provenance
The painting subsequently changed hands several times, moving to Eugène Hirsch in 1909, then to the Bernheim-Jeune gallery and back to Durand-Ruel in 1911.
Auguste Renoir created Girl with a Basket of Oranges in 1875 as an oil on canvas painting. The artist retained the work until April 19, 1891, when it entered the private collection of Paul Durand-Ruel in Paris. The painting subsequently changed hands several times, moving to Eugène Hirsch in 1909, then to the Bernheim-Jeune gallery and back to Durand-Ruel in 1911.
It was sold to Paul Rosenberg and Co. in 1917 before passing to Georges Lévy by 1933. In 1937, Jacques Seligmann and Co. facilitated the sale to William Robertson Coe of Oyster Bay, New York, who acquired the work as part of a transaction involving other paintings and a portrait exchange. Coe bequeathed the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1956.
Girl with a Basket of Oranges has been in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. since 1956, when it entered as part of the bequest of William Robertson Coe (1869–1955) of Oyster Bay, Long Island. Coe had acquired the painting on 27 April 1937 through Jacques Seligmann and Co., Paris and New York, from Georges Lévy of Paris and the château Meslay-le-Vidame, who held it by 1933 and had earlier purchased it in 1917 from Paul Rosenberg and Co., Paris. Earlier exhibition appearances documented in the provenance include a 1933 Paris exhibition lent by Lévy and a possible 1921 showing at Wildenstein's in New York, where Rosenberg reportedly lent the work.
The painting is held in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., as part of the Coe Bequest.
Overview
Girl with a Basket of Oranges is an oil on canvas painted by Auguste Renoir around 1889. The work presents a solitary female figure in an outdoor setting, captured in a moment of quiet contemplation.
Subject & Meaning
The composition shows a woman standing with a woven basket brimming with vivid oranges. She wears a loose white blouse accented with red and blue patches, a dark skirt, and a simple belt. Her hair is gathered back and her gaze is directed away from the viewer, suggesting a fleeting, introspective mood.
Technique & Style
Renoir employs a pronounced impasto technique, applying thick layers of paint particularly on the woman's garments and the fruit. This tactile surface creates a sense of volume and light, while the overall palette remains bright and harmonious, characteristic of his late 19th‑century approach.
Artist & collection
Artist
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style.
