Landscape at Beaulieu

Beaulieu, on the Mediterranean near Nice, attracted Renoir and he stayed in this little village several times. The present landscape with a road running through the middle framed by trees parted like stage curtains is constructed like a theatre set, a far cry from the principles of immediacy and vividness advocated by Impressionism. This is a kind of pastiche, but even when looking back to the 18th century, Renoir remained original in his "variations on a Rococo theme".