Renoir's moment.

This is a painting by Renoir.

It's beautifully crafted. The composition, the light, and the color are all delightful. And, it immediately catches your eye as a perfect portrait of a elegant woman at the dawn of the twentieth century.

I love most of Renoir's work.  He created many dreamy portraits and social scenes that vividly capture the culture and the mood of this key turning point in history. Yet, this one stands out to me as a landmark, not only in his career, but of all portraits. He captured a pure expression. An expression of expectancy, of satisfaction, and of light. Throughout the history of portrait painting, there are countless images of overly posed subjects, who lack raw emotion and who are frequently expressing an idea that someone has chosen for them or that they have artificially created. This painting shows a woman who was caught up for a moment in the hallway as she was on her way to an extravagant party. This portrait looks like a real moment of her life, which is especially unique at a time when cameras weren't all too easy to cart around. Moments couldn't truly be captured in their most basic, intriguing form. The light on her face looks natural, like it wasn't perfected in a studio. Her hands look as though she just clasped them in lighthearted exasperation. And, her face calmly asks you to hurry up, because you're going to be late.



The following images are portraits that are beautiful, but just not the same.