L'œuvre en bref

Completed in 1887 after three years of relentless work, The Large Bathers marks a major turning point in Auguste Renoir's career. Following his trip to Italy in 1881, where he discovered the frescoes of Raphael and the art of classical antiquity, the painter radically distanced himself from Impressionism to return to precise drawing and rigorous composition, which he himself would call his "harsh manner" or "Ingresque manner." He drew particular inspiration from a bas-relief by François Girardon at Versailles. Aline Charigot, his companion, posed for the central bather.

Four nude young women frolic at the edge of a stream. In the foreground, three figures dominate the composition in sculptural poses: one seated holds a yellow cloth, another leans against her laughing, while a third prepares to splash her companions. On the right, two bathers in the water complete the scene. The bodies, rendered with sharp contours and a smooth, almost porcelain-like modelling, contrast with the landscape in the background, painted in freer brushstrokes in bluish and verdant tones. This stylistic duality, heir to Raphael, Boucher, and Ingres, makes this canvas a pictorial manifesto that pays tribute to the great tradition of the female nude while renewing it.

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