I have to go on record as saying that Pierre Auguste Renoir is not one of my favorite painters.
Certainly among the original French Impressionists, I find him the weakest and most inconsistent — not a painter at the level of his contemporaries in the Impressionist circle. Renoir was prolific, and I’ve seen enough bad Renoirs to last a lifetime, even if at the Barnes Foundation alone.
That being said, I will turn around and say that I like very much some of Renoir’s landscapes, particularly those in which he has not lapsed into such a profusion of soft edges as to make the landscape seem melted.
At his best, Renoir’s landscapes can be richly colored, atmospheric and rendered with a subtle range of values. There are paintings in which Renoir uses his proclivity for softness to advantage, contrasting it with more sharply focused passages.
The links I give below are to general resources for Renoir images on the web; you’ll have to dig through them to find landscapes, particularly those landscapes in which Renoir is at his best. But if, like me, you have a tendency to dismiss Renoir from seeing too many weak portraits and figures, you may find his best landscapes worth seeking out.
Those who just love love love Renoir can feel free to flame me in the comments (grin).
