Our editor, Louise Steel visits Leicester’s New Walk Museum and Art Gallery to see its latest installation – a famous masterpiece by the legendary artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
No matter how many times you see a famous painting in a book or as a digital image online, nothing can quite prepare you for seeing the real thing right there in front of your eyes. You can get up close, examine the brushstrokes and look directly into the eyes of the subjects which stare out. What were they thinking in that moment – the moment when they were captured on canvas – immortalised in oil for the world to study and admire…
It’s been almost 140 years since Renoir painted ‘The Umbrellas’ and yet it remains one of the most captivating pieces ever painted. It is currently on loan from London’s National Gallery as part of its 200th anniversary celebrations and local art lovers are flocking to see it.
I meet up with Mark Simmons, Audience Development and Engagement Manager at Leicester Museums & Galleries, who tells me that the piece is often cited
as one of the greatest paintings in the world. However, you may be surprised to learn that it wasn’t a massive success when it was first displayed back in 1886.
“For Renoir, this piece marked a bit of a change in style and I think critics like to have something to talk about! However, it started to get interest when it was shown in New York and it started to develop a reputation,” he explained. “Today it is instantly recognisable and loved by millions of people.”
“This is a painting which drags people in. I think people react to it because they see themselves reflected here in a way that other paintings don’t…”
“People can empathise with a rainy day, the hustle and bustle of a busy street everybody trying to get somewhere… These are ordinary people caught just in the very moment of doing something.”
The painting places the viewer in a busy Parisian street where a variety of characters go about their lives as the rain falls. A series of principal figures fill the foreground, drawing the viewer in to their mysterious worlds – a bustling sea of blues and greys.
The eye is drawn to a red headed lady on the left hand side of the piece. She carries with her an empty basket and
a soft wistful expression, seemingly oblivious to the gaze of the gentleman behind her. Is he her husband or simply an anonymous admirer offering shelter…
Towards the right hand side of the painting, a well-dressed mother walks alongside her two daughters. She gazes down lovingly at the youngest, who looks out of the painting with a quizzical expression – a sweet, cheerful charm and eyes which seem to stare directly out. We’re drawn into her world for a moment and can’t help but wonder about her name, her background and what is going on behind her eyes…
With this painting, Renoir invites us to step into a moment suspended in time… It’s an opportunity to wander around in our imaginations – wondering about the agendas of the characters which make up this immortal scene.
Standing before ‘The Umbrellas’ is like taking shelter from the realities of the world outside – the hustle and bustle of New Walk and the wider Leicester city-scape. It’s a chance to escape into another world – a unique portal to Paris which you can’t afford to miss.
This year, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery celebrates its 175th anniversary.
‘The Umbrellas’ will be on display there until September 1.
