Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876

Author: Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Title: Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette
Date: 1876
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: H. 131; W. 175 cm
Current location: © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi

Bal du moulin de la Galette [Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette] is doubtless Renoir's* most important work of the mid 1870's and was shown at the Impressionist* exhibition in 1877.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | La Balançoire / L'altalena, 1876

Renoir gives us the impression of surprising a conversation - as if in a snapshot, he catches the glances turned towards the man seen from the back. The young woman is looking away as if she were embarrassed. The foursome in the foreground is balanced by the group of five figures sketchily brushed in the background.

The Swing has many points in common with The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette. The two pictures were painted in parallel in the summer of 1876.

The models in The Swing, Edmond, Auguste Renoir's brother, the painter Norbert Goeneutte and Jeanne, a young woman from Montmartre, figure among the dancers in The Ball. The same carefree atmosphere infuses both pictures. As in The Ball, Renoir is particularly trying to catch the effects of sunlight dappled by the foliage.

Author: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)*
Title: La balançoire [The Swing]
Date: 1876
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: H. 92; W. 73 cm
Current location: © Musée d'Orsay, dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt

A young man seen from the back is talking to a young woman standing on a swing, watched by a little girl and another man, leaning against the trunk of a tree.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir remains the best known and most popular work of art at The Phillips Collection, just as Duncan Phillips imagined it would be when he bought it in 1923.

The painting captures an idyllic atmosphere as Renoir's friends share food, wine, and conversation on a balcony overlooking the Seine at the Maison Fournaise restaurant in Chatou. Parisians flocked to the Maison Fournaise to rent rowing skiffs, eat a good meal, or stay the night.

The painting also reflects the changing character of French society in the mid- to late 19th century. The restaurant welcomed customers of many classes, including businessmen, society women, artists, actresses, writers, critics, seamstresses, and shop girls. This diverse group embodied a new, modern Parisian society.

Rabindranath Tagore | Stay in front of my eyes / Rimani davanti ai miei occhi

Laurie Blank

Stay in front of my eyes, and let
that your eyes inflame my songs.
Remains one of your stars, and their light
let me turn on my worship.
The land remains on hold
the roadside of the world;

Claude Monet | The Houses of Parliament, 1900-1905 | Painting series

Claude Monet* painted a series of oil paintings of the Palace of Westminster, home of the British Parliament, in the fall of 1899 and the early months of 1900 and 1901 during stays in London. All of the series' paintings share the same viewpoint from Monet's window or a terrace at St Thomas' Hospital overlooking the Thames and the approximate canvas size of 81 cm x 92 cm (32 in x 36 3/8 in). They are however painted during different times of the day and weather circumstances.

Lindsey Kustusch | Cityscape painter

Lindsey Kustusch - "I am an oil painter based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. My ambition is to try and capture the fleeting moments in life using this medium as an opportunity to see the world with a more interesting and colorful perspective. To stay present and aware by seeing the extraordinary in the mundane, challenging the insignificant versus the significant, and at the end of the day creating a deeper connection with the world around me".

Carlo Wostry | La Belle Époque painter

A painter of historical and genre subjects, Carlo Wostry (1865-1943) was also a sculptor and engraver. He studied in Vienna and also at the Baviere School in Munich, so gaining a varied and comprehensive training as a young man.

His first exhibition was in his hometown of Trieste, Italy and he painted a number of fine portraits there and soon produced a good living from his vocation as an artist.

Greatly influenced by Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) the great portrait and genre painter from Ferare, Italy.

Edward J. (Ted) Reed | Classical Realism painter

Edward J. (Ted) Reed lives in Vienna, Virginia, with his wife and two daughters. He paints in his home studio and teaches portrait, figure and still-life painting at The Art League School located in The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria -Virginia.

Ted grew up in an artistic family and studied the basics of art in college, but did not complete his art education or begin painting in earnest until his late 30's. In the eight years since then, he has won numerous international and national awards*.