《春天的花束》

愛藝

For all its apparent looseness， this painting Spring Bouquet has a precise structure. The flowers spill over into the lower left-hand corner in joyous profusion， with an asymmetry as free and as wild as nature. But at once the artist proceeds to counter this unbalance. To the right of the vase， Renoir has developed a heavy shadow area， rich in purples， shaggy in contour， and sharply contrasted with the pool of light below it. Especially important is the placing of the ruler-straight lines in the lower right side of the canvas. In the setup from which Renoir painted there was perhaps no such line as the diagonal which breaks into a zigzag in the extreme corner; yet something of the kind is patently necessary. If the reader will cover this diagonal， he will see that the composition becomes lopsided.

This leads to an awareness of the basic structure. The composition is held in two triangles： a lower one with its apex at the rim of the bowl under the flowers; and the other with its apex at the top of the bouquet.

The Impressionist technique had not yet evolved when Renoir painted this picture. The brushing here is bold， the pigment fat and rich， suggesting the influence of Gustave Courbet.

Yet the canvas glows with light and color， indicating that Impressionism is just around the corner; there is something of that school in the feeling of the out-of-doors that Renoir has captured in this canvas. The texture of the flowers is marvelously rendered， and one is tempted to say that the very perfume of the flowers is there， too.

The silvery blue tonality is enlivened by accents of black; the lovely sprinkling of yellow starlike blossoms is sheer delight.

Renoir bio

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in 1841. He began working as a young painter of porcelain and textiles. At age 21， Renoir entered the ?cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and went on to study under the instructions of painter Charles Gleyres， where he met and befriended Claude Monet， Alfred Sisley， and Frederic Bazille.

Along with these painters， Renoir is considered one of the most important artists of Impressionism. And even though his paintings had been initially rejected by the Academy and the public， similarly as those of his friends， with time he became one of the most admired artists of his generation. Even the French government bought one of his works.

Renoir portrayed mainly landscapes and people. Vibrant colors and seemingly insignificant daily moments are a trademark of his work.

Unfortunately， in 1899， he was afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that causes a lot of pain and inflammation in the joints. In addition， the person affected by it may also have deformities. In the case of the painter his hands were deformed. Consequently， his movements became very restricted and each movement was a big and certainly painful effort.

His son， Jean Renoir， recounts in the book Renoir， My Father， the reaction of the people to the painting of the father， after seeing his hands：

Visitors who were unprepared for this could not take their eyes off his deformity. Though they did not dare to mention it， their reaction would be expressed by some such phrase as “It isnt possible！ With hands like that， how can he paint those pictures？ Theres some mystery somewhere.”

He continued painting until his death in 1919. How possibly could he have painted so much and make anything look so beautiful if even moving his wrists was such a painful task for him？ Perhaps we find an answer in his own words， as he once said： “Pain passes， but beauty remains.”

這幅《春天的花束》盡管表面構圖松散，但整體結構嚴謹。盛放的鮮花歡欣漫溢，有花朵散落在左下角，這種自然產生的不對稱自由而奔放。不過，與此同時，畫家想要抵消這種不平衡。在花瓶右側，雷諾阿留下了一片濃重的陰影——色調豐富的紫色，參差不齊的輪廓，與下方的一片光亮形成鮮明的對比。尤其重要的是畫面右下那幾條筆直的線條。在雷諾阿的繪畫體系中，或許沒有對角線這樣的線條——直直的斜線在最角落處突然變成彎曲的折線;然而這樣的處理顯然是必要的。如果觀畫者蓋住這條對角線，會發現整個構圖偏向一側。

這使人注意到此畫的基本架構。整個構圖包含兩個三角形：較低的一個，頂點在鮮花掩映下的花盆的邊緣;另一個，頂點就在整個花束的最高點。

雷諾阿創作此畫時，印象派技法尚未發展成形。看此畫，筆法大膽，顏料厚重，色彩豐富，透出居斯塔夫·庫爾貝的影響。

然而，畫中閃耀的光和色，表明印象派呼之欲出——雷諾阿在這幅油畫中捕捉到了印象派描繪戶外場景的些許感覺。花朵纖毫畢現，令人驚嘆，不禁讓人感覺，空氣中也充溢著那些花的芬芳。

在幾處黑影的襯托下，銀藍色的花顯露出勃勃生機;可愛的星形黃花零星綻放，帶給人純粹的快樂。

雷諾阿小傳

皮埃爾-奧古斯特·雷諾阿生于1841年。他年紀輕輕就踏入繪畫行業，以繪制瓷器和紡織品起步。21歲時，雷諾阿進入巴黎美術學院，師從畫家夏爾·格萊爾，在格萊爾門下，他結識了克勞德·莫奈、阿爾弗雷德·西斯萊和弗雷德里克·巴齊耶。

雷諾阿和這些畫家一道，被認為是印象派最重要的畫家。盡管他遭遇到跟朋友們相似的命運，他的畫最初也不被學院和公眾所接受，但隨著時間的推移，他成為了那一代最受尊敬的畫家之一。甚至法國政府都購買收藏了他的一幅作品。

雷諾阿的繪畫主題主要是風景和人物。鮮活的色彩和看似微不足道的日常瑣事是其作品的標志。

1899年，他不幸患上了類風濕性關節炎。這種病會引起關節長久疼痛并伴隨炎癥。此外，患者關節還可能發生畸變。雷諾阿患病后，他的手變形了。這導致他的行動非常受限，一筆一畫都十分費力，自然也要承受巨大的痛苦。

他的兒子讓·雷諾阿在《我的父親雷諾阿》一書中敘述了人們看到父親的手后對其畫作的反應：

對他因病致殘毫不知情的來訪者都無法將目光從他變形的手上移開。盡管他們不敢提及畸變，但會發出諸如此類的感嘆：“這不可能！手都這樣了，他怎么能畫出那些畫呢？這太神奇了。”

他始終堅持作畫，直到1919年去世。如果連動動手腕對他來說都是無比痛苦的事，他怎么可能還留下這么多畫作，怎么可能把萬物都畫得那么美？也許我們可以從雷諾阿自己的話中找到答案，他曾說過：“痛苦終會消失，而美麗長存不敗。”