Cup of Chocolate (La Tasse de chocolat)

Cup of Chocolate (La Tasse de chocolat) of 1914 is a companion subject to the 1912 Barnes Foundation canvas of the same theme, demonstrating Renoir's practice of returning to successful subjects in varied treatments over multiple years. By 1914 his arthritis had progressed to the point where he required physical assistance to reach his studio, yet his output remained substantial and his figure painting showed no loss of quality. The domestic intimacy of a woman with a warm beverage continued a tradition of private female subjects that ran from Vermeer's milk pourer and Chardin's kitchen scenes through the bourgeois domestic genre of the nineteenth century, and Renoir's versions were the warmest and most sensory of all — less interested in social observation than in the pure pleasure of warm woman in warm light with warm beverage. The Barnes Foundation's acquisition of both 1912 and 1914 versions of this subject suggests Barnes's recognition that the repeated motif was not redundancy but systematic investigation, each version exploring slightly different figure treatment, lighting, and chromatic emphasis within the same fundamental subject.

The warm brown of the chocolate and the cream or white of the cup provide a concentrated colour chord at the centre of the composition. Renoir's rendering of steam or the cup's warmth—suggested through subtle blurring of adjacent tones—creates atmosphere without departing from observed reality.