Caroline Rémy ("Séverine")

c. 1885

Auguste Renoir

Artist, French, 1841 - 1919

Shown from the waist up in front a yellow background sits a pale-skinned woman wearing a high-necked, long-sleeved blue dress in this vertical pastel. The woman leans slightly to our left as that elbow rests on the arm of a chair or other piece of furniture. She has large blue eyes under dark brows, a round face, and her pink lips are parted to reveal a row of white teeth. Brown tousled curls create bangs across her forehead, and her hair is pulled back under a black and white cap perched on the back of her head. A blue-black ribbon ties in a bow to the right under her chin. Coral-peach, yellow, and pale green flowers cascade from her left shoulder, to our right, down to the chest of her light blue, long-sleeved bodice. The cuff we see is shaded green, and she wears a bracelet and ring on that wrist and hand. Her other arm appears to reach slightly forward and presumably rest in her lap. The woman and the bright yellow background are created with blended strokes, giving the pastel a soft look. The artist signed the lower left corner in cobalt blue, “Renoir.”

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pastel on paper

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    Overall: 62.3 x 50.8 cm (24 1/2 x 20 in.)
    framed: 86.3 x 76.2 cm (34 x 30 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.208

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Caroline Rémy, Paris; Leon Pédron, Le Havre (his sale, 2 June 1926, number 54); (purchased by MM Gerard frères); Paul Guillaume [1891-1934]; purchased by Chester Dale, October 1928; gift to NGA, 1963.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • Hundred Years of French Portraits, Museum of French Art, New York, December 1928, no. 15.

1931

  • Portraits of Women, Romanticism to Surrealism, Museum of French Art, New York, January 1931, no. 14.

  • Renoir and his Tradition, Museum of French Art, New York, December 1931, no. 18.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

Bibliography

1929

  • Dale, Maud. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929: no. 31, repro.

1942

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 63, repro., as Madame Severine.

1944

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1944: 63, repro., as Madame Severine.

1953

  • French Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1953: 73, repro., as Madame Severine.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 113.

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 113, repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 100, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 296, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 462, no. 674, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 340, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Renoir

Wikidata ID

Q64536948

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