Selbstbildnis

Renoir painted this at 69, and he did it with hands that barely worked. Rheumatoid arthritis had been crippling him since the late 1890s, and in 1905 he had moved south to Cagnes-sur-Mer for the milder air. By 1910 his fingers were so deformed that assistants wedged the brush against his palm, and he painted by moving his whole arm. None of that struggle is on display in the face. He looks out plainly, an old bearded man in a soft cap, with no flattery and no complaint. He would keep painting for nearly ten more years, working from a special easel built so the canvas could be raised and lowered to him.