Lakeside landscape

The landscape in this picture is in the vicinity of Annecy, a town next to a sizable lake in the Haute-Savoie region of France, however its precise position is unknown. Renoir has employed a bold color scheme in the piece, contrasting the vivid greens with contrasting shades of red, in keeping with his landscape paintings. To give the impression that the spectator is staring deeper into the image, the artist has used blurring. Renoir's use of brief, strong brushstrokes to describe the trees and vegetation in the right background is an indication of Paul Cezanne's influence.

According to a description on the back of the painting, this scene is a landscape close to Annecy, a historic French town situated next to a sizable lake in the Haute-Savoie area. However, the precise location has not been determined. Renoir has utilized vibrant color combinations, as was customary in his landscape paintings, to bring out the vitality and intensity of the colors. The vibrant greens were countered by contrasting red hues (pinks, ochre, and rusts). In this instance, he also appears to be reflecting the visual phenomena that we encounter when gazing into the distance. As our eyes go beyond them, objects that are close to us or in our peripheral vision—in this case, the grasses and the vegetation on either side of the foreground—fall out of focus. Instead of painting what is closer to the viewer in more detail, Renoir has used broad dabs of the brush to create an impression of blurring, tricking the eye into looking deeper into the picture.

Location: The National Gallery, London, England
French Title: Paysage au Bord du Lac
Year: 1889