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ALS in French, signed “Renoir,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8.25, December 26, 1881. Handwritten letter to Paul Bérard about the island of Capri. In part (translated): "Capri is an adorable, tiny island, and has everything one needs to paint. Grottoes of every color, impossible to paint, by the way. The Azure Grotto is extraordinary. One can only enter it when the sea is calm. The entrance is so low that you have to lie down in the bottom of the small boat. The water there is extraordinarily clear and a blue unlike any we have on our palette, reflecting off the vault and walls of the cave. There's also the emerald green cave. But those are English curiosities. Apart from that, there's a magnificent countryside full of olive, orange, and lemon trees, masses of wildflowers along the rocks, which are a superb shade. If I can show you part of it, you might see it, if the wind dies down. Because so far I haven't been able to leave my house, where, by the way, I have a splendid view." In very good to fine condition, with overall foxing, affecting only appearance.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s 1881 visit to Capri had a notable impact on his artistic direction. Immersed in the island’s luminous Mediterranean atmosphere, he encountered an intensity of natural light and color that softened his palette and encouraged a more delicate, airy treatment of form. The trip also exposed him to classical and Renaissance influences—particularly through his studies of Italian art—which prompted him to move away from pure Impressionist spontaneity. Capri, with its radiant sea and sun-washed landscapes, became a catalyst for Renoir’s transition into his later, more classical phase.
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