Portrait de Claude Renoir (1901-1969)

Claude Renoir was born in 1901, when his father was 60, and at home everyone called him Coco. He became the model Renoir reached for most often in the late years, partly because he was simply there. In 1907 Renoir bought Les Collettes, an old olive farm above Cagnes-sur-Mer on the Riviera, and had a house built among the trees. The family moved in during 1908, which is about when this portrait was made. In that same year of the purchase Renoir modelled a small terracotta medallion of the boy's head, his first attempt at sculpture, and Coco went on to make his own career in ceramics. The picture ended up in Sao Paulo, given to the museum there by the Jafet family in 1950.