Description
Two nude women bathe within a screen of dense green foliage. One sits low in the foreground, bent forward so mostly her back and shoulders are seen; the other stands behind her at the right, one arm raised to her piled-up hair, a dark cloth draped over a branch beside her. Patches of blue sky and water show through gaps in the leaves above and behind them.
Painted in 1916 and now in the collection of the National Museum in Oslo (51 by 41 cm), the canvas is built almost entirely from warm rose flesh tones set against cool greens and blues, in the loosely worked, glowing manner of Renoir’s last decade. The print is tuned to keep that warm-cool contrast strong, so the two bathers stay distinct from the foliage crowding in around them.



