After the Bath (La Sortie du bain)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

The present work is one of four Renoirs that Dr. Barnes acquired from the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in December 1915, and in his book The Art of Renoir he describes the canvas as the embodiment of "the classic feeling of Michelangelo and Raphael, and the swirling surging movement of Tintoretto and Rubens." This homage to the old masters was an integral component of Renoir's modernist language. Unique to his late figurative paintings is the distorted ratio between the body's amplitude and its constricted surroundings, the suggestion of contours through tonal shifts, and the application of thin paint layers to allow the ground to show through, imbuing the flesh with an unparalleled luminescence.

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