In the Café

By 1877 the painters who had been mocked as “Impressionists” were starting to take the name for themselves. That spring they held their third group show in Paris, and much of their arguing about painting happened in the cafes around the Place Pigalle. Renoir spent real time in those rooms, partly because a cafe was a good place to meet the sitters whose portraits paid his bills. This small canvas, barely 36 centimetres tall, is one of those interiors. There is no firm outline anywhere in it. The figures at the back dissolve into quick strokes, and a mirror on the wall catches the reflection of other customers, so the room seems full of movement. Almost everything is set down in shades of blue.