Artwork
Marie Murer
Marie Murer is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It dates from 1877 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:center left: Renoir.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The portrait titled Marie Murer depicts a married woman, identified as the sitter in a work commissioned in 1897 to celebrate her marriage; the commission by her half‑brother Eugène Murer underscores the social importance of the union and ties the image to familial honor. As a genre portrait, the painting functions as a visual record of middle‑class domestic life, with the sitter’s attire and posture suggesting virtue and stability. Both the internal catalogue and Wikidata entry note that the work represents a woman, confirming the subject’s gender and the portrait’s focus on marital status as a marker of identity.
Technique & Style
Marie Murer is executed in oil on canvas, a medium consistent with Renoir's portrait practice of the late 1870s. The work is classified as a painting within the portrait genre, depicting a woman. No further details regarding specific pigments, support dimensions, surface handling, brushwork, or current condition are documented in the available sources.
History & Provenance
Provenance records trace its path from Eugène Murer’s commission in 1897 to Mme Gérome Doucet, then to Bernheim-Jeune, before its acquisition by Dale.
The portrait Marie Murer was commissioned in 1897 by Eugène Murer, the sitter’s half-brother, to mark her marriage. Renoir painted the work that same year. After Murer’s death, the painting passed to his sister, Mme Gérome Doucet.
By 1919 it belonged to the Parisian dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, who offered it for sale that year. Étienne Bignou brokered its 1931 transfer to the American collector Chester Dale, who bequeathed it to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 1963.
The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., with accession number 1963.10.142. It entered the collection as part of the Chester Dale Bequest in 1963. The work’s exhibition history includes inclusion in the Dale collection’s holdings; prior to that, it was in the private collection of Josse Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, by 1919, and was sold through Étienne Bignou in 1931 to Chester Dale, New York.
Provenance records trace its path from Eugène Murer’s commission in 1897 to Mme Gérome Doucet, then to Bernheim-Jeune, before its acquisition by Dale.
Context
Auguste Renoir painted Marie Murer in 1877, an oil on canvas portrait that exemplifies his early realist tendencies and his interest in contemporary bourgeois subjects. The painting remained in the Murer family until it entered the collection of Bernheim‑Jeune, was sold through Etienne Bignou to Chester Dale in 1931, and finally bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art in 1963, where it is listed among the museum’s 19th‑century French portrait works. Its documented provenance illustrates typical early‑20th‑century European art market movements, and its presence in a leading American institution signals its recognized significance within Renoir’s portraiture and the broader context of Impressionist art.
Overview
Auguste Renoir's oil on canvas painting, Marie Murer, dates from 1877. This portrait captures a seated woman, likely the individual named in the title. The work exemplifies Renoir's characteristic approach to portraiture, focusing on the sitter's presence and the overall atmospheric quality. It offers a glimpse into the artist's output during a significant period of his career.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style.
