Renoir - Snow-Covered Landscape

This is Renoir's Snow-Covered Landscape, a deceptively simple composition: just a few trees standing in a snow-blanketed field.

Look closer at the snow on the ground, though, and it's clear it isn't painted a flat white. Instead, it reflects the colors of its surroundings, shifting subtly in hue depending on the light—a detail Renoir captures with real sensitivity.

Fans of Renoir know him best for his warm, sun-drenched paintings, which makes this snowy scene a notable exception. The reason, as the story goes, is simple: Renoir disliked cold weather and rarely painted winter at all. It was only an unusually heavy snowfall the winter he made this piece that left him little choice but to paint it.