PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841 — 1919) The Frog Pond. (Portrait of Alphonsine Fournez).
1879, panel, oil, 1.06 x 0.74
The “Frog Pond” was the name of a small restaurant with a bathing area on the banks of the Seine in the outskirts of Paris near Chatou, where Renoir often worked en plein air together with his friend Claude Monet. He repeatedly painted Alphonsine Fournez — the daughter of the owner of the restaurant neighboring the “Frog Pond.” The portrait of Alphonsine created by him in 1881 is known worldwide as “Girl with a Fan.” It is kept in the Leningrad Hermitage. “The Frog Pond” was painted at the time when Renoir became fascinated with the Impressionist style.