Apples (Pommes)

Still-life painting was a minor but consistent thread in Renoir's practice, often used to explore colour relationships independently of the complex demands of figure composition. This fruit study from 1875, at the Barnes Foundation, reflects the influence of Cézanne on Renoir during the period when the two artists were in regular contact. The apple was Cézanne's emblematic still-life subject, and Renoir's own fruit treatments in these years register awareness of how his friend was reimagining the genre. By the mid-1870s both painters were questioning the purely sensory priorities of early Impressionism in favour of greater structural solidity.

The apples are modelled with directional brushstrokes following rounded form, giving each fruit three-dimensional weight. Renoir uses warm reds and pinks against cooler greens in shadow areas to create form through colour contrast.