This canvas is a brilliant example of the figure studies that Renoir was producing during the 1870s, at the height of his career as an Impressionist painter. Confidences , was painted in 1875, just one year after the first Impressionist exhibition. Gift of John Whitney Payson. Promised gift of John Whitney Payson.
Rhododendrons is a composition that describes the nuances of the city at the turn of the century.
The structure of the work, however, appears to be a compilation of disparate scenes sewn together with rows of colorful flowers. Museum purchase with individual gifts. Lent by John Whitney Payson. It is often said that Monet painted for the retina alone, and Springtime at Argenteuil gives us some sense of what that description means. The painter restricts his vision to the exterior surface of the object, believing it possible to paint what he sees unmodified by what he knows or feels.