The Mussel Harvest

1879

Auguste Renoir

Associated Names
Auguste Renoir

Artist, French, 1841 - 1919

This painting shows a view from above, looking down a path on the left where several people walk away from us towards a house in the distance surrounded by lush green vegetation. The path is a light pink color, and it cuts through the long green grasses and tall pink and yellow flowers that fill most of the landscape. The people are indistinct, but they appear to carry large bundles or baskets on their backs. The building they head towards is small, with yellow walls and a pointed roof painted in shades of brown, pink, and blue. A similar structure with a red chimney and blue roof is visible to the right, next to a larger building with a pointed steeple. The larger building is mostly in shadow, surrounded by tall, green trees. In the background behind these buildings are rolling green hills under a soft blue sky with light clouds. The brushstrokes in the painting are small swirls and dashes of color, giving the painting a soft, hazy quality.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Adolph Lewisohn [c. 1849-1938], New York, by 1921; [1] by inheritance to his son Sam Adolph Lewisohn [1884-1951], New York; by inheritance to his wife, née Margaret Seligman [1895-1954], New York; bequest 1954 to NGA.
[1]Lent to Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1921, no. 106.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1921

  • Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1921, no. 106, repro.

1951

  • The Lewisohn Collection: A Catalogue ... before the dispersal of bequests to various museums and galleries, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1951, no. 64

1980

  • Fifty Years of French Painting: The Emergence of Modern Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, 1980

1988

  • Renoir Retrospective, Nagoya City Art Museum; Hiroshima Museum of Art; Nara Prefectoral Museum of Art, 1988-1989, no. 35, repro.

1996

  • Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 158-159, color repro.

2007

  • Renoir Landscapes 1865-1883, The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2007-2008, no. 46, repro., as The Mussel Harvest.

2013

  • Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016, not in catalogue.

2016

  • L'Atelier en Plein Air: Les Impressionnistes en Normandie: Turner, Boudin, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Pissarro, Morisot, Caillebotte, Signac..., Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, 2016, no. 20, repro., as La Cueillette des moules à Berneval.

2022

  • Renoir: Rococo Revival, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, 2022, no. 79, repro.

Bibliography

1928

  • Bourgeois, Stephen. The Adolphe Lewisohn Collection of Modern French Paintings and Sculptures. New York, 1928: 132, repro.

1929

  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Renoir. Leipzig, 1929: repro. p. 115, no. 114.

1934

  • Vollard, Ambroise. Renoir: An Intimate Record. New York, 1934:245.

1936

  • Wilenski, R.H. French Painting. Boston, 1936:262.

1937

  • McBride, Henry. "The Renoirs in America: In Appreciation of the Metropolitan Museum's Exhibition," Art News 35, no. 31 (1 May 1937): repro. p. 74.

1940

  • Wilenski, R.H. Modern French Painters. New York, 1940: 338.

1944

  • Drucker, Michel. Renoir. Paris, 1944:53-54, 201, repro. pl. 54.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 112.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 99, repro.

1972

  • Fezzi, Elda. L'opera completa di Renoir nel period impressionista. Milan, 1972: no. 371, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 292, repro.

1980

  • Monneret, Sophie (intro). Guida alla pittura di Renoir. Milan, 1980: no. 390.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 469, no. 683, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 336, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: Renoir. 79.

Wikidata ID

Q20188849

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