Still Life with Melon and Peaches

At the end of his life, Auguste Renoir produced still lifes that were both pleasing and lucrative. These works were always composed simply, with a head-on view on a horizontal plane. Here, the large melon and the peaches are arranged very casually on a tablecloth, and rapidly executed in the luminous fluidity of his later works, when he settled in Cagnes. The refined colouring, careful handling and apparent simplicity of the composition refer to eighteenth-century painters, in particular Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin.