Le Pont Neuf
The Pont Neuf in Paris on a bright day, seen from a café window on the Quai du Louvre — the bridge is unchanged.
Pont Neuf
The painting shows a real, identified place that you can find today. The exact spot the artist worked from is not necessarily known.
Le Pont Neuf — at a glance
- Artist
- Auguste Renoir (1841–1919)
- Year
- 1872
- Movement
- Impressionism
- Place
- Pont Neuf, Paris — over the Seine at the Île de la Cité
- Viewpoint
- A first-floor café window on the Quai du Louvre — bridge and statue unchanged
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Now at
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Overview
Le Pont Neuf is an early Impressionist city view by Auguste Renoir, painted in 1872. It shows the Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge in Paris, crowded with walkers, carriages and cabs under a clear summer sky. It is oil on canvas and hangs in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
How it was painted
Scholarship According to Renoir's brother Edmond, the two of them took a table on the café's first floor; Edmond would go down and delay passers-by with questions so that Renoir, at the window, had time to note their poses and clothes before they moved on.
Where was Le Pont Neuf painted?
Museum interpretation The Pont Neuf crosses the Seine at the western tip of the Île de la Cité. Renoir painted it from an upstairs room of a café on the Quai du Louvre, on the Right Bank, looking south across the bridge; the equestrian statue of Henri IV and the buildings of the Left Bank close the view. The bridge, the statue and the quays are essentially unchanged and the viewpoint can be matched today.
What is in the painting?
The bridge runs across the middle distance, its pale stone bright in the sun. Tiny figures with parasols, top hats and workmen's blouses cross it; carriages and a green omnibus move among them; their long shadows fall on the roadway. Beyond, the statue of Henri IV, the trees of the Place Dauphine and the Left Bank rooftops, under a high blue sky with a few clouds.
Look closely
The statue of Henri IV
The equestrian statue on the point of the Île de la Cité closes the view beyond the bridge.
The cast shadows
Long shadows from the midday sun scatter across the pale bridge roadway — the source of the picture's sparkle.
The green omnibus
A horse-drawn omnibus moves among the carriages and walkers.
The flecked crowd
Parasols, top hats and workmen's smocks, each a quick dab of colour.
Analysis
Composition and light
A high, wide viewpoint over the bridge, with strong midday sun casting long shadows that pattern the roadway.
Scholarship The raised window position lets Renoir spread the whole bridge and its traffic across the canvas. The bright, near-vertical light and the cast shadows scattered across the pale stone give the scene its sparkle; the figures are quick flecks of colour.
History & provenance
The painting is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Sources
- National Gallery of Art, Washington — collection entry for Auguste Renoir, ‘The Pont Neuf, Paris’ (1872; oil on canvas)
- Edmond Renoir's recollection of the painting's making, cited in NGA and John House, ‘Renoir’ literature
Related paintings
More by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Bal du moulin de la Galette
Luncheon of the Boating Party
