Renoir’s Mont Sainte-Victoire and a Lesson on Directional Brushwork

On your inspiration at the moment is Mont Sainte-Victoire by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Mont Sainte-Victoire, c.1888-89
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Mont Sainte-Victoire, c.1888-89

Mont Sainte-Victoire is a mountain in France that overlooks Aix-en-Provence. When folks consider work depicting this mountain, Paul Cézanne’s collection is the primary to come back to thoughts. However I feel Renoir’s extra colourful interpretation deserves some consideration.

This portray is a good lesson on directional brushwork and the way you should use it to maneuver the viewer’s eyes by way of and across the portray. Discover how Renoir takes us on a journey from the grass by way of to the timber by way of to the mountains and eventually to the sky. And he does this with fluid curves and swirls quite than static traces.

These directional strokes additionally add a way of motion and life to the portray. You possibly can really feel the grass and leaves swaying within the wind.

A number of different observations:

  • There’s a lovely distinction between heat and funky colours. It appears like they’re jousting for consideration and are evenly matched.
  • There are a number of bursts of vivid orange and blue that add vibrance to the portray with out showing garish.
  • The colours are restrained for the mountain. This conveys distance and atmospheric perspective.
  • There’s a focus of exercise, darkish accents, and highlights across the center floor. This acts as a line separating the foreground and center floor.
  • There’s an fascinating sense of scale, with the timber within the center floor being the identical measurement within the portray because the mountain within the distance (linear perspective).

Talking of landscapes, tomorrow we shall be opening enrolment for our Panorama Portray Masterclass. This would be the final cohort we take by way of earlier than we open it to the general public at full value. Please ​be a part of the waitlist​ if .

Completely satisfied portray!

Dan Scott

drawpaintacademy.com