Pierre-Auguste Renoir

In the early 1860s Pierre-Auguste Renoir had studied in the Paris atelier of Swiss history painter Charles Gleyre. Together with his fellow pupils Frédéric Bazille, Claude Monet, and Alfred Sisley, he belonged to the nucleus of the group that would become known as Impressionists in the mid-1870s. Renoir’s early experiments with painting in the open air were decisive for the development of his visual language. In a departure from traditional methods, he worked en plein air not merely for studies, but also, like Monet, in order to create independent, finished works. Although he was accepted to the Paris Salon in 1864 and 1868 and although progressive critics lauded the freshness and directness of his landscapes, he sold few pictures until the early 1870s. As with many of his colleagues, the first of the eight Impressionist exhibitions, presented in 1874, constituted a turning point in his career and helped him gain broader public recognition and financial security.

The Pear Tree was painted in 1877 in Louveciennes, a small town in the department of Yvelines about twenty kilometers west of Paris, a region where artists such as Monet, Sisley, and Camille Pissarro also frequently worked. The twisted tree trunk in the right foreground directs the viewer’s gaze to the center of the composition, where shadows of unmixed black set a strong accent. The wind-blown foliage is rendered in thick, staccato brushstrokes of glowing yellow and orange, contrasting starkly with the fresh blue of the sky and the rich green of the meadow. With its brilliant colors and loose brushwork, the composition epitomizes the mature phase of Impressionism that Renoir had initiated in the mid-1870s along with other artist colleagues such as Claude Monet.

Daniel Zamani

Ausstellung von Werken von Auguste Renoir, Max Slevogt, Wilhelm Trübner, Eugène Carriere, Fritz Klimsch, R. Carabin, Paul Cassirer, Berlin, October 16–December 1, 1901, no. 22

L'évolution du paysage, La Libre Esthétique, Brussels, March 12–April 17, 1910, no. 159

Impressionism: The Hasso Plattner Collection, Museum Barberini, Potsdam, from September 5, 2020

June 15, 1882, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, purchased from the artist
n.d., M. Picq, Paris, acquired from the above
June 25, 1892, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, acquired from the above
March 23, 1910, M. Herren, acquired from the above
n.d., Paul Robinow, Hamburg
October 30, 1928, Paul Cassirer and Hugo Helbing, Berlin, lot 61, consigned by the above
Friedrich Bernhard Eugen „Fritz“ Gutmann, Netherlands, acquired at the above sale,

1940/41, confiscated from the above or forced sale in the Netherlands
n.d., Mme Lucienne Fribourg, Paris and New York
April 17, 1969, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, lot 105, consigned by the above
1971, Private collection
December 7, 1998, Sotheby’s, London, lot 18, unsold
June 21, 2005, Sotheby’s, London, lot 331, sold following a settlement agreement with the heirs of Friedrich Bernhard Eugen Gutmann
Private collection, acquired at the above sale
November 4, 2010, Christie’s, New York, lot 377, consigned by the above
Private collection, Denmark, acquired at the above sale
September 2019, purchased from a private collection

Elda Fezzi, L'opera completa di Renoir nel periodo impressionista. 1869–1883, Milan 1972, no. 149, p. 96, ill. p. 96

Elda Fezzi, Tout l'œuvre peint de Renoir, période impressionniste 1869–1883, Paris 1985, no. 145, p. 95

Simon Goodman, The Orpheus Clock, Melbourne/London 2015, p. 222–27, ill. no. 5

Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. 1, Paris 2007, no. 75, p. 157, ill. p. 157