Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted Girl with a Watering Can in 1876 in Monet’s famous garden in Argentuil. This is the same garden where Monet’s famous Water Lily paintings were created. The painting depicts a young girl in her finest clothes, with a watering can in one hand and two cut flowers in the other. In her hair rests a red bow.
The painting is clearly impressionistic in its depiction. There is a clear focus on color over line, as we see the fine brush strokes of Renoir at work in the painting. As such, the level of detail is quite high along the important aspects of the painting. We can thus see the pretty clothes of the girl given in great detail. This is clearly on purpose as Renoir wanted to ensure we see exactly how fine she looks as she attends to Monet’s garden. The roses on the foreground are also quite clear, and painted with immense beauty.
The girl is attending to the garden in the spring, as the roses are blooming and other flowers are coming out. This also creates a parallel between the girl and the flowers, they are both in the spring of their lives. The painting as such has a very positive and happy message. This is in line with Renoir’s general philosophy, as he wanted paintings to be pretty, joyful and pleasant to observe. With Girl with a Watering Can, he most certainly created just such a painting.
