Small Study for a Nude

Small Study for a Nude, painted in 1882 and now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, belongs to Renoir's intense engagement with the nude in the years surrounding his Italian journey of 1881. Having seen Raphael frescoes and ancient sculpture in Rome and Pompeii, Renoir began rethinking his Impressionist approach to the figure, feeling that his flickering surface effects had dissolved form too thoroughly. The 'small study' designation indicates a working exercise rather than a finished exhibition piece — Renoir building up his understanding of form through rapid, exploratory notation.

Oil on canvas or panel. A study format allows freer, more experimental handling than exhibition works — paint is applied to test solutions rather than to achieve finish. The NGA work shows Renoir exploring figure form with visible directness, the surface retaining evidence of working and revision.