Renoir worked longer and harder on this lighthearted bathing scene than on any other painting in his career. Over three years, he made numerous studies for the figures in an effort to resolve their poses, settle the complex web of limbs in the center of the picture, and refine his approach to line and contour. Expressing satisfaction with the final composition, he dubbed it his "masterwork."
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After two decades of painting, Renoir had begun searching for a new direction in his work. He found inspiration in classical and Renaissance art and earlier French artists like Francois Boucher. We can see Boucher's influence in Renoir's smoothly painted bathers, set here against the choppier brushwork of the landscape.
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