00:00Renoir is really a painting of love,
00:02their naked arms,
00:02the game of the eyes of this man.
00:05It's not an erotic painting,
00:06very explicit painting.
00:07This is luncheon of the Bowdoin party,
00:10a painting considered a masterpiece
00:11by the French artist Auguste Renoir.
00:14That's a Renoir.
00:15It's a Renoir.
00:15The Renoir.
00:16But why is Renoir such an important artist?
00:19First, Renoir is known as an impressionist.
00:22What is new with the impressionism,
00:24is obviously the fact of painting
00:25the essence of the painting in plein air,
00:28and not in atelier,
00:29and to try to represent
00:31the most just as possible
00:32the light and the colors
00:34that the eye sees in reality
00:36in the light of the atelier.
00:38So we see, in fact,
00:39the importance of the elements
00:40that reflect the light,
00:41the verts,
00:42and then we see the importance
00:43of the blancs
00:44that are spread a little bit everywhere.
00:46These are the blancs
00:46that are tinted with reflections.
00:49And that's the beauty of the impressionism.
00:50It's to show that
00:51the objects in nature
00:53reflect the colors
00:55that there are around them.
00:57Second, Renoir is particularly known
00:59for painting new subjects.
01:01Classical painting of the time
01:02focused primarily on historical,
01:05mythological,
01:05or religious subjects.
01:07Renoir was groundbreaking
01:08because he depicted everyday life.
01:10Renoir is one of the first,
01:12the first even,
01:13to represent,
01:14in such a large format,
01:15a scene of popular conviviality.
01:17He often comes to this idea
01:19of a restaurant,
01:20a cafe,
01:21or a public banquet,
01:22which are places
01:23where we play.
01:23This is the place
01:24where we are
01:24in the middle of the world.
01:27There are people
01:28who have their arms
01:30nus.
01:30And that, for Renoir,
01:31it's important
01:32because it's a sign
01:33of a sort of
01:34a relaxation,
01:34almost like a nudity.
01:36Well, it's not really
01:36a nudity, but in all
01:37a sort of a body
01:38that are relaxed,
01:39in a more natural pose.
01:42This is during the industrial revolution,
01:44with the rise
01:45of a certain bourgeoisie
01:46and a culture of leisure.
01:47So painting all of this was new.
01:49All of these are attitudes
01:51that also show
01:51a form of relaxation
01:52of the social codes
01:54in these places,
01:55where there is a social mix
01:56between the canotiers
01:58more popular
01:59and the more bourgeois characters.
02:03Finally, unlike other impressionists
02:06who were painting figures
02:07that were sometimes
02:08disconnected from one another,
02:10Renoir painted relationships,
02:12connections,
02:12and more specifically,
02:14love.
02:15Another element
02:16which is very important
02:16in this particular table,
02:17which is the game
02:19of the eyes.
02:20And Renoir
02:21all of the eyes
02:21are tied to each other.
02:24It's what makes
02:24the particularity of Renoir
02:25it's this way
02:26of assembling the people
02:28by the eyes
02:29and the gestures.
02:29For example, here,
02:30you have the hand
02:31of this man
02:32who touches
02:33the face of the woman.
02:35Here,
02:36the hand of this woman
02:37looks like
02:37the hand of this man.
02:39This way
02:40of relating the characters
02:41the one to the other,
02:42to create an intimacy
02:43of intimacy,
02:44of conviviality,
02:45of lien.
02:46It's really the particularity
02:47of Renoir
02:47which, in a way,
02:48is really a part
02:49of love,
02:50in a large sense.
02:51So, we can ask
02:51if there's a relationship
02:52in this table,
02:53here, this man
02:54with this woman,
02:56it's not very clear.
02:57For some historians,
02:59it's rather interested
03:00by the woman,
03:00for others,
03:01it's rather interested
03:01by the canotier.
03:02It's not an erotic painting,
03:04it's not an explicit painting.
03:06It's a painting
03:07on the naissance
03:08of the relationship,
03:09on the flirt,
03:10on the encounters,
03:11but also
03:12the beauty,
03:12the friendship,
03:13and, in a way,
03:14a larger experience.
03:16So now we ask,
03:17why do we still love
03:18Renoir so much today?
03:20Renoir is an artist
03:21who is quite easy
03:22to love,
03:23because it's a painting
03:24that talks
03:25about us today.
03:27These people
03:27who are talking
03:28at a table,
03:29in a restaurant,
03:30that could be us.
03:31And it's a painting
03:31that knows
03:32you to touch
03:33through this power,
03:35and this harmony
03:36of colors.
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