![Pierre-Auguste Renoir - The Great Bathers [1884-87] by Gandalf's Gallery](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vROgoJCP-KRXZpTYy0OwaCMpwRtXJpw1PaIcs_svv-6sfn8oYLibCh_kCEI9PwqZUEG8dVWLAmBWg7QVgzzrmmkAChZ7kN8ma3COi_-YFyKr-6uH_btJKr3GeKswLHgA=s0-d)
Although this painting depicts a fleeting moment when one bather playfully threatens to splash a companion, it has a timeless, monumental quality. The sculptural rendering of the figures against a shimmering landscape and the careful application of dry paint reflect the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth century French painting. Renoir, in an attempt to reconcile this tradition with modern painting, laboured over this work for three years, making numerous preparatory drawings for individual figures and at least two full-scale, multifigure drawings. Faced with criticism of his new style after completing The Large Bathers, an exhausted Renoir never again devoted such painstaking effort to a single work.
[Philadelphia Museum of Art - Oil on canvas, 117.8 x 170.8 cm]
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