"By the Sea", also known as "Woman Seated by the Sea", is an oil on canvas painted by Pierre Auguste Renoir in 1883. This composition has been part of the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1929. The painter portrays his companion, Aline Charigot, seated in a wicker armchair by the seaside. He would marry the young woman in 1890. At the time of creating this work, the artist decided to structure his paintings more firmly by emphasizing contours and somewhat abandoning the Impressionist style. A journey to Italy and the influence of Renaissance art had profoundly marked him since 1881. The setting surrounding his model appears to be that of the Norman coast near Dieppe, an environment likely memorized since the painting was executed in Renoirs studio. Aline gazes directly at the painter and the viewer with a gentle expression and porcelain like complexion. She sits in an armchair enveloped by a seascape of ocean and cliffs while a sketch of the towns architecture appears in the background of the canvas. The landscape consists of rapid and impasto brushstrokes with the artist focusing here on atmosphere and light for this illustrative section, thereby approaching the Impressionist style in the background. The selected tones play with contrasts as they spread into yellow, gold, and blue. The image of Aline dressed in a jacket and skirt with colors hesitating between blue and deep black features a collar of light and frothy white fabric along with a matching small hat that asserts itself powerfully against this environment. Renoir offers in this composition a work of profound visual impact where the face and hands of the model seem to emerge from an ineffable light.
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