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Lot Essay
The authenticity of this painting was confirmed by the late Franois Daulte.
Renoir traveled to Algeria in March of 1882 and stayed for two months. He had been there the year before and was very drawn to its exotic, verdant landscape. In a letter written to Mme Brnard during his visit, Renoir said, "I have never seen anything more sumptuous and more fertile...Normandy is poor by comparison...a marvelous green with the mixture of prickly pear and aloes in the hedges, the fields full of flowers" (quoted in B. Erlich White, Renoir, His Life, Art and Letters, New York, 1984, p. 105). Le jardin d'essai Alger captures the brillant light and color of the region. Renoir integrates the geometric shapes of the buildings within the more naturalistic forms of the garden, echoing the arches of the architecture with the branches of the palm trees. This painting and the numerous sketches Renoir made of the towers, minarets and archways he saw on his trip reveal his interest in Islamic architecture.
Renoir's choice to travel abroad to paint reflected his frustration with the public's response to his work during the early 1880s and his desire to find new and different subjects. By choosing to visit Algeria, he was consciously following the footsteps of an earlier generation of artists who had been drawn by its promise of exotic subject matter and its unique light. Renoir was very likely considering the example of Delacroix, whose North African subjects had inspired him ten years earlier when he painted Woman of Algiers which he exhibited in the Salon of 1870 (coll. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) and Parisian Women in Algerian Dress (Harem) shown in the Salon of 1872 (coll. The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo). Although this influence was important to his work, it was not until Renoir experienced first hand the land and people of Algeria that he began to paint Orientalist subjects once again.
Renoir traveled to Algeria in March of 1882 and stayed for two months. He had been there the year before and was very drawn to its exotic, verdant landscape. In a letter written to Mme Brnard during his visit, Renoir said, "I have never seen anything more sumptuous and more fertile...Normandy is poor by comparison...a marvelous green with the mixture of prickly pear and aloes in the hedges, the fields full of flowers" (quoted in B. Erlich White, Renoir, His Life, Art and Letters, New York, 1984, p. 105). Le jardin d'essai Alger captures the brillant light and color of the region. Renoir integrates the geometric shapes of the buildings within the more naturalistic forms of the garden, echoing the arches of the architecture with the branches of the palm trees. This painting and the numerous sketches Renoir made of the towers, minarets and archways he saw on his trip reveal his interest in Islamic architecture.
Renoir's choice to travel abroad to paint reflected his frustration with the public's response to his work during the early 1880s and his desire to find new and different subjects. By choosing to visit Algeria, he was consciously following the footsteps of an earlier generation of artists who had been drawn by its promise of exotic subject matter and its unique light. Renoir was very likely considering the example of Delacroix, whose North African subjects had inspired him ten years earlier when he painted Woman of Algiers which he exhibited in the Salon of 1870 (coll. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) and Parisian Women in Algerian Dress (Harem) shown in the Salon of 1872 (coll. The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo). Although this influence was important to his work, it was not until Renoir experienced first hand the land and people of Algeria that he began to paint Orientalist subjects once again.