Two Young Girls at the Piano

Renoir painted this scene of two girls at a piano in 1892, the year he was commissioned by the French government to produce a work for the Musee du Luxembourg. He was 51, suffering from the rheumatoid arthritis that would eventually cripple his hands, and in the middle of his late period: a return to classical composition and warm, figurative painting after two decades of Impressionism. The canvas is vertical, about 44 by 34 inches. Two girls sit at an upright piano. The older one plays, her hands on the keys, her face turned toward the sheet music. The younger one stands beside her, leaning in to read along. Both wear white dresses with blue sashes. The room is painted in soft browns and golds, with a curtain and a chair visible in the background. The light is warm and diffused, falling evenly across the figures without sharp shadows. Renoir painted at least six versions of this subject in 1892. The Met's version, from the Robert Lehman Collection, is one of the most finished. The others are in the Musee d'Orsay, the National Gallery in London, and private collections. Renoir was fascinated by the subject of young people making music: he painted it repeatedly throughout the 1890s, treating it as a modern update of the classical theme of music-making that ran from Titian through Watteau. By 1892, the original Impressionist group had long since dispersed. Monet was painting his Rouen Cathedral series. Degas was pastelling in his studio. Renoir had moved furthest from the group's origins, embracing a smoother, more classical style that his old friend Cezanne called 'bouguereauise' (a jab at the academic painter Bouguereau). But Renoir's late work has a warmth and physical ease that the early Impressionist paintings, for all their brilliance, do not. Oil on canvas, 112 by 86 centimeters. Renoir painted with a fluid, creamy touch, blending the flesh tones into the white dresses so that the figures seem to emerge from the canvas. The brushwork is loose in the background, tighter in the faces and hands. The surface has a soft, satin quality that reproduces well in print. The vertical format and warm palette make this print work well in a living room, a music room, or a child's bedroom. The subject of two girls at a piano is domestic and gentle, and it suits rooms with soft furniture, warm lighting, and traditional decor. The 11x14 or 16x20 framed version is a good size for most walls. The painting is part of the Robert Lehman Collection, given to the Met in 1975. Lehman acquired it in 1928 and kept it in his private collection for decades. This is a public domain artwork (CC0), scanned from the original at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.