Artwork Page for Bathers Playing with a Crab

Details / Information for Bathers Playing with a Crab

Bathers Playing with a Crab

c. 1897

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

(French, 1841–1919)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
oil on fabric
Measurements
Framed: 75.5 x 85.5 x 10 cm (29 3/4 x 33 11/16 x 3 15/16 in.); Unframed: 54.6 x 65.7 cm (21 1/2 x 25 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1939.269
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

After viewing Renaissance paintings on a trip to Italy in 1881, Renoir attempted to bring greater order and stability to Impressionism by merging flickering light effects with solid forms. He conveyed this new ambition in a series of paintings of nude bathers, a subject that preoccupied him from 1883 until his death in 1919. Avant-garde artists of the 20th century admired his ability to blend modernist and classicizing tendencies.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts five women with light skin tones on a rocky shore. On the left, a nude woman sits on a patterned cloth with her back turned. In the center, another nude woman crawls right, reaching for blue fabric held by a reclining woman. To the right, red fabric and a hat sit on the bank. Behind, two figures stand in blue water beneath green trees.

Bathers Playing with a Crab

c. 1897

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

(French, 1841–1919)
France, 19th century

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