A total of 31 works have been drawn from the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and will be on display in the Spanish capital until February 6th, 2011. For the Clarks, Renoir represented the quintessence of Impressionism, and their passion for the movement, and specifically for the works of Renoir, led them to acquire a large collection of the artist's works, which span the range of the master's styles and genres.
The collection, acquired by the Clarks over a period of four decades, is the second most important collection of Renoir's work in the world. Now, for the first time, it is on display outside the Clark Institute almost in its entirety, in an exhibition unprecedented in Spain where the Impressionist movement is barely represented in public collections.
One of the leading artists of the Impressionist movement, Renoir was passionate about his work and achieved great renown and popularity among his contemporaries. He himself visited Spain in 1892 and his visit to the Prado would have given him the opportunity to view many paintings by the great masters Titian, Rubens and Velazquez, whose influence is clear in his own work which often celebrates feminine beauty and sensuality.
Renoir was a prolific artist and the exhibition demonstrates the breadth and interest of his work through the most important stages of his career, between 1874 and 1900, and in the main genres in which he worked: portraiture, the female figure, the nude, landscape, still life and flowers. The paintings on display demonstrate the contribution of Renoir's work to the art of his own time, and also the depth of his links with the great artistic traditions of the past.
Further information: 'Passion for Renoir' at the Prado
