Saturday, June 19, 2010

A Father’s Tale: Renoir, Coleridge, and Fatherhood




Walking through the Late Renoir exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art recently, I couldn’t help but be struck by the power of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s paintings of his three sons—Pierre, Jean, and Claude. Renoir didn’t begin having children until he reached his fifties, but he doted on them and loved to paint them again and again, recording their childhood for all eternity. On this Father’s Day, I feel an affinity with Renoir and wonder at the love that appears in such works as 1895’s Gabrielle and Jean (shown). Here is a true father’s tale. Please come over to at Picture This at Big Think to read more of "A Father's Tale."

[Image: Gabrielle and Jean, 1895. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841 – 1919). Oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 21 1/4 inches. Framed: 34 1/8 x 38 inches. Philadelphia Museum of Art.]

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