In Dance at Bougival, how is the Composition and style discussed?
The painting has had many names. Renoir first referred to it in 1883 as "La danse à la campagne." It is assumed to be a scene from the French village of Bougival, however, this fact is disputed due to a story written by Paul Lhote in which Renoir depicts an extremely similar scene, though the story takes place in Montmartre. Renoir spent the early part of his career in Italy, learning the classical tradition in art. While there, he became increasingly interested in the use of light to spotlight the humans in paintings. He experimented on various fruits and vegetables, then moved to painting bodies, using the light in the foreground and the darkness in the background to illuminate his subjects. Aspects of this approach can be seen in the Dance at Bougival. The figures in the painting are nearly life-size representations of the models, which, as Anne Distel writes, "reflect Renoir's periodic desire to produce ambitious works demonstrating his skill as a figure painter."The painting has been described as one of Renoir's first reversions to a more classical style of painting he learned copying paintings in the Louvre while maintaining the bright palette of his fellow Impressionists. The Dance at Bougival was different from the other Dance paintings, in the respect that he did very little sketching and planning before applying the paint. The two people are depicted in pastel colors, with the deep blue suit of the man contrasting the pale pink dress on the woman. Additionally, the woman's hat is the same as the one worn by the woman in Dance in the Country, continuing Renoir's theme of tying together the paintings in an effort to create a unified group. It is said by many to be one of Renoir's last moments working with an Impressionist style. In his analysis of the painting, Colin Bailey writes "If these works may be said to bring Renoir's picturing of Parisian leisure to an end, their virtuosity and sureness of touch can be explained by his decade of immersion in the genre."
Impressionists Colin Bailey French the Louvre Bougival Dance in the Country Louvre