Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s 1899 Self-Portrait, was painted in the French Impressionist style.
Analysis of Renoir’s Self-Portrait
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s self-portrait, here in his fifties, turns his face obliquely away from the viewer while maintaining his gaze towards us.
This could allude to the process of painting a portrait, as the painter needs to look over and back from sitter to canvas; and in this case of a self-portrait: from mirror to canvas. This is one of many self-portraits (or autoportraits in French) Renoir painted, in 1899.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Self-Portrait is in the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States.
French Impressionist artists were renowned for their groundbreaking approach to art, but self-portraiture was not as prominent in their oeuvre as it was in other artistic movements. However, some notable self-portraits do exist within the realm of French Impressionism. Famous examples include those of Frederic Bazille’s Self Portrait and Berthe Morisot’s Self Portrait.