Woman in a Garden

In 1868 there was no such thing as Impressionism yet. The word would not be coined for another six years, and painting out in real daylight, in a real garden, was still an odd thing for a serious artist to do. That is what this canvas is. The young woman in the blue walking dress is Lise Tréhot, who modeled for Renoir throughout his twenties and shared his life for several years. He set her among leaves and dappled shade and painted the light falling through, loosely and quickly, long before critics had a name for that habit. Look at the white trim of her dress, where the sunlight seems to catch and scatter across the fabric.