Outskirts of Pont-Aven

In the late 1880s, Pierre-Auguste Renoir made several visits to Pont-Aven, an artists’ colony in Brittany where Paul Gauguin also worked. In this painting, Renoir contrasts loosely brushed shadows and grass rippling in a breeze with crisply defined trees. This work shows him gradually moving away from the sketch-like quality of the Impressionist technique. His forms are more boldly delineated with a forceful use of colour, as seen in the play of the sun on the tree trunks.