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While staying with Claude Monet at his home in the village of Argenteuil on the outskirts of Paris, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) captured his friend in pursuit of their shared passion — painting outdoors.
The day was overcast and the dahlias were in full bloom as the artists set up in a neighbor’s yard, just a few steps from Monet’s own house — the cream-colored one with blue shutters on the left. While Monet focused intently on the flowers, Renoir found inspiration in his fellow painter.
Here we see the carefully posed artist standing before his canvas, a brush in his right hand and in his left, his palette and other brushes. A box of paints and an umbrella lay beneath the easel.
An X-ray would later reveal that this piece had been painted over a portrait of Monet’s wife, Camille, but it remains unclear whether Monet or Renoir created the earlier work.
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