Renoir We Must Embellish
By Kim Ji-soo / Shim Hyun-chul
Staff Reporters
Step inside the Seoul Museum of Art, and one feels as if being transported onto a page for Pierre-Auguste Renoir in grammar school art books.
The first extensive retrospective of Renoir (1841- 1919) brings to Seoul audiences some of his most well known works arranged around the central themes that the artist embodied: “Happiness of Life,” “Images of Women” and “Bathers and Nudes.” In the first section, immerse yourself in the brilliant dalliance of light in “The Swing” (1876), the simple abandon of the couple in “A Dance in the Country” (1883), the fluidity of the “Young Girls at the Piano” (1892). Wearied city eyes tired by the daily grind will thank the master Impressionist.
Audiences can then become acquainted with portraits of his family and friends. As their soft-stares and beautiful color attires entrance, so do the warm sensual nudes and bathers ? “Reclining Female Nude” (Gabrielle) (1906-1907) ? and the vivid depiction of everyday life.
We are then met with the portrait created by his friend Albert Andre. In “Renoir Seen by Albert Andre,” the painter stares slightly askance but boldly as if to ask “What is your happiness?” The exhibition, which is organized by the Seoul Museum of Art, SBS and The Hankook Ilbo, sister newspaper of The Korea Times, will run through Sept. 13.
