Cleveland Museum of Art

Laundress and Her Child (Aline and Pierre)

Pierre-Auguste RenoirLinkedCulture matchlcp-3c5e45018677

Date: c. 1886
Medium: pastel on brown paper
Culture: France, 19th century
Department: Drawings
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 149014

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

In this idealization of motherhood and rural life, Auguste Renoir depicted his future wife, Aline Charigot, with their son Pierre. Bright colors, including warm orange and yellow, are contrasted with cool blues and greens to create a dramatic impact. Renoir took full advantage of pastel’s unique optical properties, in which minute, irregular particles diffusely reflect light, allowing for an unparalleled velvety brilliance that is perfectly suited to portray the youthful bloom of the woman and child. Auguste Renoir also realized this composition as a painting in oil on canvas which is in the collection of the Barnes Foundation today.

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Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Bequest of Alexander Ginn
Provenance: after 1886-1890: (Georges Petit, Paris) | 1890-1926: (Durand-Ruel, Paris, transferred to Durand-Ruel, New York) | 1926: (Durand-Ruel, New York) | after 1926-1929: (Reinhardt Galleries, New York) | 1929: (Durand-Ruel, New York) | 1929-1938: Mr. [1868–1938] and Mrs. Frank Ginn, Cleveland, by descent to Alexander Ginn, Cleveland | 1938-1977: Alexander Ginn [d. 1999], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH | 1977-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH