Pierre-Auguste Renoir's strong reaction against Impressionism continues…
1890 CE
His many trips of the past several years to sunlit locales in southern France, which offered him scenes bursting with color and sensuality, have given greater encouragement to his separation from Impressionism, which to him is associated with the landscapes of the valley of the Seine.
At the same time, the seemingly joyous spontaneity of nature gives him the desire to depart from his newfound adherence to the dictates of classicism.
While in southern France, he had recovered the instinctive freshness of his art; he painted women at their bath with the same healthful bloom he would give to bouquets of flowers.
His financial situation, in contrast to Pissarro's, has appreciably improved; he is married in 1890 to Aline Charigot (some sources give the year as 1881).
The Salon exhibits Renoir's submission, The Daughters of Catulle Mendés (1888; The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection/The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) (it will be his last submission to the official body.)