the theatre box auguste renoir

the theatre box auguste renoirShown at the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874, The Theatre Box is one of the most emblematic works of Auguste Renoir's career. For this painting, the artist had his brother Edmond pose alongside a young Montmartre model nicknamed Nini "Gueule de Raie." The subject of the theatre box was particularly prized by painters of Parisian modernity, fascinated by the social rituals of the bourgeoisie under the Third Republic; Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt

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Renoir captures the surface of the water through a succession of short

surrounded by luminous yellow and blue spheres

present in several legendary accounts of ancient Rome

in a dark frock coat

they clothe themselves in their embrace

The Mona Lisa with Keys immediately surprises viewers with its juxtaposition of a universally recognised image and mechanical elements suspended in space

In the 1890s

which contrast with the darker shadows and create a warm

Piet Mondrian's Composition of Red

detached from any attempt at botanical realism

The expressionist artist Marianne von Werefkin places a group of people in the centre of an imposing landscape with multicoloured reflections