Image: public domain, courtesy of Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

A Girl with a Watering Can

Auguste Renoir, 1876

Renoir painted this little girl in a sunny garden and wrote the year, 1876, next to his signature. From that time on, he often painted women and children in simple, everyday moments.

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Did you know?

Nobody knows who the girl was; she was most likely a child from the neighbourhood.
A girl who looks very much like her appears in other Renoir paintings, so she may have posed for him often.
Look for the red bow in her blond hair and the white lace on her cobalt-blue dress.
In one hand she holds a green watering can, and in the other two small daisies.
Renoir painted her face with smooth, careful strokes, but the garden around her with soft, quick ones.
The American collector Chester Dale bought it in 1931 and left it to the National Gallery of Art in 1963.

About the artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was born in Limoges, worked mostly in Paris, and spent his last years in the sunny south of France at Cagnes-sur-Mer.

A leading Impressionist, he is loved for joyful scenes of people enjoying themselves together, such as Dance at the Moulin de la Galette and Luncheon of the Boating Party.

At thirteen he started out painting flowers on porcelain, and all his life he believed a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful and pretty.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir ›

Where it is today: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington · Museum page