Renoir, Girls at the Piano

A blonde girl reads sheet music as she presses the keys, while a brown-haired girl beside her leans in to follow along. Soft colors and a warm atmosphere make this a painting that soothes the viewer at a glance.

Renoir invested unusual effort in this subject. At the time, the French government had never purchased a single work by Renoir despite his established reputation, and in 1892 it informally commissioned a painting from him through its arts administration. Recognizing the importance of the opportunity, Renoir reworked the same composition repeatedly to refine it, and today several finished oil versions survive alongside oil sketches and pastels.

The finished work the government ultimately purchased now hangs in the Musée d'Orsay, while the painting here at the Orangerie is an oil sketch of the same composition, its brushwork noticeably freer than the final version. This sketch later entered the collection of art dealer Paul Guillaume before arriving at the Orangerie. Where the Orsay version presents the figures with clearer, more polished forms, this one lets viewers feel Renoir's brushstrokes far more directly.