Femme portant un seau (Woman Carrying a Water Bucket)

Pierre Auguste Renoir
(French, 1841-1919)
Femme portant un seau
(Woman Carrying a Water Bucket)
Late nineteenth century
Red chalk
(84.61)
Bequest of Paul D. Higday

Pierre Auguste Renoir is best known as one of the leading French impressionists of the nineteenth century. Celebrated for his ability to represent light-filled landscapes and energetic scenes of everyday life, Renoir is most famous as a painter. Late in his career, however, the artist devoted an increased attention to drawing, becoming interested in establishing a greater sense of structure and volume in his paintings. Renoir was especially influenced by the red chalk studies of the eighteenth-century French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau.

Femme portant un seau dates to around 1890, a crucial point in the development of Renoir’s late style. The artist used parallel and broken strokes to suggest flickering light and movement. His representation of the transient nature of visual experience is consistent with the Impressionist aesthetic, while his volumetric representation of form reflects his interest in classical draughtsmanship.

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