Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Young Woman Seated

Paris, about 1876-7

Oil on canvas

66 x 55.5 cm

The sitter, Nina Lopez, was one of Renoir’s favourite professional models, so this is not a commissioned portrait.  Renoir painted many half-length figures and they often subsequently acquired evocative titles from the art trade.

This work became known as La Pensée or Thought.  It was painted at the time of the second and third Impressionist exhibitions in 1876 and 1877 to which Renoir was a major contributor.  The soft oranges, reds, greens and blues are typical of the Impressionist palette at that date.  The colour contrasts are not as daring as in some works, however, perhaps making it more saleable.

Accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax by HM Government from the Estate of Mr Jack Cotton and allocated to the Henry Barber Trust, 1984 (No. 84.1).