Notice

From 9/20 through 9/23, visitors may only enter through the John R entrance. All other entrances, plus the museum grounds, Kirby St and Farnsworth St will be closed during this time for Concours d'Elegance.

Seated Bather, between 1903 and 1906

  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French, 1841-1919

Oil on canvas

  • Unframed: 45 3/4 × 35 inches (116.2 × 88.9 cm)
  • 54 1/2 × 43 1/2 × 3 inches (138.4 × 110.5 × 7.6 cm)

Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill

70.177

Department

European Modern Art to 1970

Late in his career, the impressionist artist Renoir painted a series of opulent female nudes. The entire canvas is filled with warm light and soft colors, creating a luminous dreamlike atmosphere for the female nude, who lifts her hair in a gesture that is both intimate and timeless.

Signed, lower right: Renoir

the artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir

1914-1935, purchased by Josse Hessel (Paris, France)

1935, (Alex Reid & Lefevre, Ltd., London, England) and (Bignou Gallery, New York, New York, USA)

purchased by Robert H. Tannahill [1893-1969] (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA)

1970-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Exposition d'art français du XIXe siècle, au profit de l'Association génerale des Mutilés de la guerre. Exh. cat., Galerie Paul Rosenberg. Paris, 1917, cat. no. 58. Französische Kunst des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus. Zürich, 1918, cat. 2. Rivière, G. Renoir et ses amis. Paris, 1921, p. 268, (ill.) after p. 184. Endell, A. "Raum und Körper." Kunst und Künstler 23, pp. 302-306, p. 305 (ill.). [as 1903.] Cinquante ans de peinture française 1875-1925. Exh. cat., Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Paris, 1925, no. 69. [dated 1903.] Bernard, T. "Jos Hessel." La Renaissance (January 1930): p. 11 (ill.). Renoir. Exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, 1933, pp. 45-46, cat. 108, pl. 53. Guenne, J. "La Religion de Renoir." L'Art vivant, no. 174 (July 1933): p. 297. "Nuits de Paris." L'Art vivant (1933): p. 303 (ill.). p. 297. [as 1904.] Renoir (1841-1919). Exh. cat., Alex Reid & Lefevre Gallery. London, 1935, cat. 29. [as about 1902-1903.] Renoir. Exh. cat., Bignou Gallery. New York, 1935, cat. 11 (ill.). [as 1903.] Barnes, A.C. & de Mazia, V. de. The Art of Renoir. New York, 1935, pp. 183-84, 463. Morsell, M. "Bignou holds exhibition of Renoir's Art." Art News, December 7, 1935, pp. 3-4 (ill.). Gaunt, W. Renoir. London, 1952, pl. 80. [as La Grande Baigneuse assise aux jambes croisées.] The Robert Hudson Tannahill Bequest to The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1970, pp. 8, 9, 19, 21, 29 (ill.). Cummings, F.J. and C.H. Elam, ed. The Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 159. Nishimura, T., ed. Renoir. Tokyo, 1972, pl. 53. Exhibition of Pictures from Museums of the United States of America. Exh. cat., Hermitage Museum, Pushkin Museum, State Museum of Ukrainian Art, and State Museum of the Belorussian SSP. Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev, and Minsk, 1976, cat. 11 (ill.). Chefs d'oeuvre des musées des Etats-Unis: de Giorgione à Picasso. Exh. cat., Musée Marmottan. Paris, 1976, cat. 28 (ill.). 100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 128-129 (ill.). Renoir. Exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, Grand Palais, and Museum of Fine Arts. London, Paris, and Boston, 1985, p. 308, cat. nos. 102 and 103. Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art, Municipal Museum of Art, and Musuem of Modern Art. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ibaraki, 1989, pp. 96, 174-175, 221-222, cat. 64 (ill.). Wagner, Monique. From Gaul to De Gaulle: An Outline of French Civilization. New York, 1989, p. xiv, pl. 41 (ill.). Message 1995. Exh. cat., Toyota Municipal Museum of Art. Toyota, 1995, pp. 42, 199-200, cat. 6 (ill.). Renoir: Modern Eyes. Kwamura Memorial Museum of Art, Miyagi Museum of Art, and Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art. Sakura, Sendai, and Sapporo, 1999, p. 100, cat. 38 (ill.). Degas to Matisse: Impressionist and Modern Masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., the Phillips Collection. Washington, D.C., 2000, pp. 80-81, 143 (ill.). Dumas, A. Renoir's Women. Exh. cat., Columbus Museum of Art. Columbus, 2005, (ill.), p. 80 (fig. 60). Bell, Esther, and George T. M. Shackelford, ed. Renoir: The Body, The Senses. Exh. cat., Clark Art Institute, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum. New Haven and London, 2019, cat. 51b (ill.).

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Seated Bather, between 1903 and 1906, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Robert H. Tannahill, 70.177.