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.

Woman in an Armchair, 1874

  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French, 1841-1919

Oil on canvas

  • Unframed: 24 × 19 7/8 inches (61 × 50.5 cm)
  • 35 inches × 29 5/8 inches × 4 inches (88.9 × 75.2 × 10.2 cm)

Bequest of Mrs. Allan Shelden III

1985.24

On View

  • Modern C235

Department

European Modern Art to 1970

Renoir's finished study of a woman has the quality of a sketch; his rapid brushstrokes describe the play of light across the model's face, arms, and torso. The identity of this sitter remains a mystery.

Signed, lower right: Renoir

Mr. Lemaire (Paris, France): March 20, 1901, purchased by (Durand-Ruel, Paris, France)

July 7, 1904, purchased by Mr. Van de Velde (Le Havre, France)

Mrs. Paul Guillaume (Paris, France)

Mrs. Jean Walter (Paris, France)

late 1920s, purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden (Grosse Pointe, Michigan, USA)

by descent to Mrs. Allan Shelden III (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA)

1985-present, bequest to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Fosca, F. Renoir. New York, 1924, pl. 3. "The Age of Impressionism and Objective Realism." Art News 38, no. 31, May 4, 1940, p. 12 (ill.). Masterpieces of Painting from Detroit Private Collections. Detroit, 1949, no. 26 (ill.). [as Lise, lent anonymously.] Fosca, F. Renoir. M.I. Martin, trans. New York, 1969, pp. 69, 283 (ill.). Daulte, F. Auguste Renoir, vol. 1: Figures 1860-1890. Lausanne, 1971, no. 107 (ill.). Bulletin of the DIA: Annual Report 62, no. 3 (1986): p. 10 (pl. VI), p. 21. Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art, Municipal Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ibaraki, 1989, pp. 95, 174, 221, cat. 63 (ill.). Henshaw, Julia P. A Visitor's Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 223 (ill.). Message 1995. Exh. cat., Toyota Municipal Museum of Art. Toyota, 1995, pp. 40–41, 199, cat. 5 (ill.). Keyes, George S. "Late Nineteenth-Century French Paintings at the Detroit Institute of Arts." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 77, nos. 1/2 (2003): 4–7, p. 7, fig. 3 (ill.). Beal, Graham W.J. and Debra N. Mancoff. Treasures of the DIA. Detroit, 2007, p. 359, no. 283 (ill.). Beal, Graham W.J. and Debra N. Mancoff. Treasures of the DIA. Detroit, 2015, pp. 14–15 (ill.). Eiling, Alexander, ed. in collaboration with Juliane Betz and Fabienne Ruppen. Renoir: Rococo Revival. Exh. cat., Städel Museum. Frankfurt am Main, 2022, p. 289, no. 102 (ill.).

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Woman in an Armchair, 1874, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of Mrs. Allan Shelden III, 1985.24.