Seated Female Nude, Profile View (Femme nue assise, vue de profil)

Seated Female Nude, Profile View, 1917, belongs to Renoir's final two years of painting, when he continued working from his wheelchair at Les Collettes despite near-complete physical incapacity. The profile nude—a format with ancient Greek precedent and Renaissance revival—was among the compositional types he returned to in his last years for its formal clarity. In 1917 he was visited by Matisse and Maillol, both of whom noted the extraordinary vigour still evident in his painting despite his physical condition. This Barnes Foundation canvas represents an act of sheer artistic will.

The profile format simplifies the figure to a clear silhouette that Renoir could build through his late, broadly applied warm flesh tones. Despite the physical difficulty of execution, the flesh modelling retains its characteristic luminosity, with warm highlights and softer shadow passages creating three-dimensional form.