PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919) Paysage nuageux signed 'Renoir' (lower left) oil on canvas 7 1/16 x 11 in (18 x 28 cm) Painted circa 1885 Footnotes: This work will be included in the forthcoming Pierre-Auguste Renoir Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc. This work will be included in the second supplement to the Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles de Renoir, currently being prepared by Guy-Patrice and Floriane Dauberville. Provenance Gabrielle Renard-Slade Collection, Cagnes & Los Angeles (a gift from the artist). John Slade Collection, Beverly Hills (by descent from the above circa 1959). Thence by descent to the present owner. Exhibited (Possibly) Los Angeles, Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Renoir, 1841-1919, September 15 - October 15, 1943. 'Renoir could paint the very same spot of landscape a number of times and each version would reveal an essentially different ramification of his spirit and feelings' (A. Barnes & V. de Mazia, Renoir, A Retrospective, exh. cat., The Barnes Foundation, New York, 1987, p. 339). Despite his widely recognized focus on portraiture, Renoir's engagement with landscape painting constitutes a vital and evolving component of his oeuvre, offering insight into both his stylistic transformations and his sustained dialogue with nature. Landscapes remained a consistent site of experimentation, culminating in the radiant and deeply personal works of his late years in Provence and Cagnes-sur-Mer. In his early practice during the 1860s and 1870s, Renoir approached landscape within the shared ambitions of Impressionism, emphasizing immediacy, light, and atmosphere. His paintings from this period are characterized by fluid, broken brushwork and a luminous palette that captures transient effects with notable sensitivity. These works reveal quick, silvery brushstrokes and a commitment to experiments with form and color, situating Renoir within the Impressionist movement while also distinguishing his interest in compositional harmony and tactile richness. A decisive turning point occurred in the early 1880s following Renoir's travels to Italy. This experience prompted a reassessment of his artistic priorities, particularly in relation to structure and the classical tradition. Landscapes from this transitional period show a movement away from purely atmospheric dissolution toward a more defined articulation of form. Contours become firmer, spatial organization more deliberate, and the compositions reflect a renewed concern with balance and permanence. By the late nineteenth century, Renoir began to synthesize these impulses. His landscapes increasingly demonstrate an integration of classicism and Impressionism, wherein tangible forms are surrounded by a warm atmosphere created by expressive brushstrokes of vibrant color and sparkling light (B.E. White, Renoir, His Life, Art and Letter, New York, 1984, p. 217). This synthesis enabled him to retain the chromatic vibrancy of Impressionism while reintroducing structural coherence, resulting in compositions that are both stable and animated. The culmination of this evolution is found in Renoir's late landscapes, particularly those executed in Provence and at Cagnes-sur-Mer, where he settled permanently in 1907. The importance of place in his artistic development is underscored by his son, Jean Renoir, who observed: 'It seems that the different places Renoir lived in ever since his childhood, coincided with the evolution of his genius' (J. Renoir, Renoir, My Father, London, 1962, p. 386). This connection between geography and creativity is nowhere more evident than in Cagnes, where Renoir established his estate, Les Collettes. Reflecting on this period, Jean Renoir wrote, 'The story of Cagnes and Renoir is a love story' (J. Renoir, Renoir, My Father, London, 1962, p. 379). The Mediterranean environment, with its olive groves, rolling hills, and luminous light, provided Renoir with both subject matter and a renewed chromatic language. Landscape during this period allowed him to explore the most informal and improvisatory aspects of his art. These late works are marked by a pronounced density of composition and an all-over treatment of the pictorial surface. This quality was recognized by the critic J.F. Schnerb, who remarked: 'M. Renoir more and more loves his canvas being full and sonorous. He loathes empty spaces. Every corner in his landscapes offers a relationship of colors and values chosen with a view of embellishment of the surface. His recent studies of the Provençal landscape have led him to transpose the themes furnished by nature into the most sonorous color range and to assemble the largest possible number of elements in the canvas, like a musician who ceaselessly adds new elements to the orchestra' (Schnerb quoted in A. Bistel & J. House, Renoir, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1985, pp. 276-277). This analogy to music aptly describes Renoir's late landscapes as orchestrations of color, in which each element contributes to a unified yet dynamic whole. Light assumes a central structural role, and the intense Mediterranean sun informs a palette of saturated greens, yellows, and blues. The landscape becomes a verdant tapestry, animated by the warmth of the beating sun, with color guiding the viewer's eye across the surface. Despite their apparent immediacy, these works reveal a profound engagement with the challenges of representation. Renoir articulated this struggle in vivid terms: 'The olive tree, what a brute! If you realize how much trouble it has caused me. A tree full of colors. Not great at all. Its little leaves, how they've made me sweat! A gust of wind, and my tree's tonality changes. The color isn't on the leaves, but in the spaces between them. I know that I can't paint nature, but I enjoy struggling with it. A painter can't be great if he doesn't understand landscape' (Renoir quoted in A. Bistel & J. House, Renoir, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1985, p. 277). This statement encapsulates the tension at the heart of Renoir's landscape practice: the impossibility of fully capturing nature, coupled with an enduring commitment to the attempt. The olive tree, emblematic of Provence, becomes both motif and challenge, its shifting tonality demanding a translation into paint that is as much interpretive as observational. The material handling of these late works reinforces this transformation. Renoir's brushwork becomes increasingly rich and tactile, with a marked aversion to empty space, resulting in densely worked surfaces where foliage, architecture, and figures are interwoven into a cohesive whole. Concurrently, many of these paintings retain an intimate scale and an informal character, described as 'mostly quite small, treated freely and informally... no more than quick notations of a simple feature.' (A. Bistel & J. House, Renoir, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1985, p. 276). This balance between spontaneity and control defines the originality of Renoir's late landscapes. Renoir's treatment of landscape charts a progression from the optical immediacy of Impressionism to a mature style defined by synthesis, density, and chromatic richness. The landscapes of Provence and Cagnes represent the apex of this evolution, embodying a deeply personal vision shaped by environment, experience, and an enduring commitment to the expressive possibilities of paint. 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