Renoir, Sisters at the Piano

Yvonne, in white, plays the piano while her sister Christine, in red, leans in beside her to follow the sheet music. The two were daughters of Henri Lerolle, a painter, art patron, and close friend of Renoir.

On the wall behind them hang two paintings — one of a horse race, the other of dancers — both by Edgar Degas, another master of Impressionism. Lerolle, himself a collector, owned these Degas works, and Renoir chose to include them within the composition.

The room, filled with a piano and artwork, quietly conveys the cultured, affluent domestic life enjoyed by the Lerolle family in late 19th-century Paris. Through warm colors and soft brushwork, Renoir captured a peaceful, elegant moment shared between the two sisters.