Road at Wargemont

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Road at Wargemont

Artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919)

Place of OriginWargemont, France

Date1879

DimensionsPainting: 31 3/4 × 39 3/8 in. (80.6 × 100 cm)
Frame: 44 × 51 × 5 1/2 in. (111.8 × 129.5 × 14 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1957.33

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Pavilion Gallery, 5

Label TextLiquid colors in glowing, gem-like tones glide into each other, blurring contours, in one of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s most remarkable landscapes. Renoir painted it in late summer 1879, while a guest at the estate of banker and diplomat Paul Bérard in Wargemont in northern France. Renoir was enchanted by the countryside around Wargemont, setting up his easel outside to record his impressions of the forests, fields, and coastline. The dreamlike view of rolling hills, winding road, lines of trees, and clumps of bushes is experimental and forward-looking in technique. Renoir applied his thin, translucent layers of paint wet into wet—that is, he applied fresh paint to already-wet areas. This method gave the image its fluid, unfocused, and luminous appearance. His rapid, spontaneous execution invigorates a scene of nature in flux as the wind picks up and a storm rolls into the valley.Published ReferencesMeier-Graefe, J., Renoir, Leipzig, 1929, p. 121, pl. 111.

French Art, 1200-1900, London, Royal Academy, 1932, no. 483, pl. 133.

Renoir, Paris, Orangerie, 1933, no. 48, pl. XXIX.

Clark, K., "A Renoir Exhibition," Burlington Magazine, LXVII, July 1935, pp. 3-4.

Barnes, A.C. and V. de Mazia, The Art of Renoir, New York, 1935, pp. 74n, 75n, 451, no. 95.

Chefs-d'Oeuvre de l'Art, Paris, Palais National des Arts, 1937, no. 26 repr.

Renoir, New York, Wildenstein Galleries, 1950, no. 26.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, Jan.-Mar. 1958," Art Quarterly, vol. 21, 1958, p. 220.

Renoir, Jean, "My Father's Sunset Years," Art News, vol. 57, April 1958, pp. (38)-40, repr. (col.) p. (38).

Loan Exhibition of Renoir, New York, Wildenstein Galleries, 1958, no. 25, repr. p. 39.

"The Connoisseur in America," Connoisseur, vol. 142, 1958, p. 132, repr. p. 133.

"Art News of the Year," Art News Annual, no. 28, 1959, p. 207.

"The Year's Best: 1958," Art News, vol. 57, Jan. 1959, p. 60.

Sutton, Denys, "Nineteenth-Century Painting: Trends and Cross-Currents," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 493, repr. fig. 23.

Renoir, New York, Wildenstein Galleries, 1969, no. 35, repr. (col.).

Werner, Alfred, "Renoir's Daimon," Art News, vol. 68, no. 6, April 1969, repr. p. 37.

Lee, Katharine C., "French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 12, no. 3, Autumn 1969, repr. (col.) p. 74.

Seitz, W., "The Relevance of Impressionism," Art News, LXVII, Jan. 1969, p. 37, repr.

Fezzi, E., L'opera completa di Renoir del periodo impressioniste, 1869-1883, Milan, 1972, no. 365, repr.

Paintings by Renoir, Art Institute of Chicago, 1973, no. 26, repr.

Renoir the Gentle Rebel, New York, Wildenstein Galleries, 1974, no. 21 repr.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 135-136, pl. 253.

Dunstan, Bernard, Painting Methods of the Impressionists, New York, 1976, p. 58, repr.

Renoir, London, Hayward Gallery, 1985, no. 45, p. 215, repr. (col.) p. 87.

Fried, Michael in "'Renoir: a Symposium," Art in America, vol. 74, no. 3, March 1986, pp. 108, 110.

Impressionism: Selections from Five American Museums, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, 1989, no. 72, p. 166, repr. (col.).

Distel, Anne, Les collectionneurs des impressionnistes, amateurs et marchands, Paris, 1989, p. 167.

Landscapes of France: Impressionism and Its Rivals, London, Hayward Gallery, 1995, no. 93, p. 250, repr. (col.).

Impressionism: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890, London, National Gallery, 2000, p. 180, fig. 126 (col.) p. 181.

Benjamin, Roger, Renoir and Algeria, New Haven, Yale, 2003, pp. 62, 78, fig. 87 (col.).

Lemonedes, Heather, et al., Monet in Normandy, New York, Rizzoli, 2006, repr. (col.) p. 32, fig. 18.

Renoir's Landscapes, 1865-1883, London, National Gallery, 2007, no. 43, pp. 64, 192-195, 208, 228, 276, repr. (col.).

Lloyd, Christopher, "Renoir: London, Ottawa and Philadelphia," Burlington Magazine, 149, no. 1250, May 2007, p. 344, fig. 43 (col.).

Leman, Dilys, "Experiments in Landscape: Renoir's Abiding Passion = Les experiences paysagères au coeur de la passion de Renoir," Vernissage (The magazine of the National Gallery of Canada), vol. 9, no. 3, Summer 2007, pp. 10, 13, repr. p. 11 (col.).

Dauberville, Guy-Patrice and Michel, Renoir: catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, Paris Ed., Bernheim-Jeune, 2007, vol. (1858-1881), no. 77, p. 158, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 262, repr. (col.).

Exhibition HistoryCopenhagen, Statens Museum for Konst, Exposition d'art francais du XIX siècle, 1914, no. 179.

London, Royal Academy, French Art, 1200-1900, 1932, no. 483.

Paris, Orangerie, Renoir, 1933, no. 48.

London, Reid & Lefevre, Renoir, 1935, no. 7.

Paris, Palais National des Arts, Chefs-d'Oeuvre de l'Art, 1937, no. 26.

New York, Wildenstein Galleries, Renoir, 1950, no. 26.

New York, Wildenstein Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Renoir, 1958, no. 25.

New York, Wildenstein Galleries, Renoir, 1969, no. 35.

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, 1973, no. 26.

New York, Wildenstein Galleries, Renoir the Gentle Rebel, 1974, no. 21.

London, Hayward Gallery; Paris, Grand Palais; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Renoir, 1985, no. 45.

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art; Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, et al. Impressionism: Selections from Five American Museums, 1989-1990, no. 72.

London, Hayward Gallery; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Landscapes of France: Impressionism and Its Rivals, 1995-1996, no. 93.

London, National Gallery; Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum; Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Impressionism: Painting Quickly in France, 1860-1890, 2000-2001.

London, National Gallery; Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada; Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Renoir's Landscapes, 1865-1883, 2007-2008, no. 43.

Tournai, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tournai, Le monde est beau. Formes et couleurs de l’harmonie naturelle, March 22 – July 22, 2013.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, From the Collection: 300 Years of French Landscape Painting, Jul. 17-Oct. 11, 2015.