In the history of art, Auguste Renoir is known as the “painter of happiness”. Late in life, he said: 

To him, this natural state was the feeling of happiness that we can feel through his artworks. Among the many portraits from Renoir’s brush, women’s and children’s characters prevail. The artist loved to compare women and children with beautiful flowers and fruits. He tried to embody a state of tranquility and spiritual clarity through these images.

In the portrait of the Comédie-Française theater actress Jeanne Samary, Renoir tried to capture a brief moment of meeting her. Quick brush strokes and the light manner of drawing convey the barely noticeable movement of internal changes in the heroine’s image, reflected in her soft half-smile and the glint of her dewy eyes. Reverberant chords of green, bluish, and golden yellow splashes on the pink, somewhat “foamy” background turn the portrait into an anthem of youth and captivating femininity.

It is now hard to imagine that this portrait received an ironic and trenchant review from critic Louis Leroy. He wrote the following: