Les Fraises

By 1908 Renoir had moved south to Cagnes, near Nice, for the warmth, because rheumatoid arthritis had twisted his hands so badly that a brush had to be wedged between his stiffened fingers. Large canvases were beyond him on most days, so he painted small: a handful of wild strawberries tipped onto a fold of white linen, the picture barely wider than a spread hand. He had loved painting fruit and flowers since he was young, saying they let him try out bold colour without the worry a sitter brings. The reds and the warmed whites here are set down wet and quick, by a man who could no longer easily hold the tool that made them.