Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Woman in Lilac (1876/1877)
Held by the same family for 87 years, this luminous Renoir carries with it the legacy of one of New York’s most prominent collecting dynasties of the 20th century. Over four decades, Joan Whitney Payson– a formidable businesswoman who co-founded the New York Mets in 1962, becoming the first woman to own and manage a major American sports team – and her husband, Charles Shipman Paysonamassed an extraordinary collection centered on works by Renoir, Cézanne, van Gogh, Gauguin and Picasso, also including Old Masters such as Rembrandt, Holbein and El Greco, along with major American painters from Homer to Wyeth. Joan Whitney Payson later bequeathed a significant portion of the collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where several galleries are named in her honor.
First purchased by the Paysons in 1929 for $100,000, the painting now returns to the market with an estimate of $25-35 million – one of the best Renoirs to appear at auction in the last century. It is being sent by their daughter, who is heir to this legacy of extraordinary collectors and distinguished New Yorkers, and a member of the Whitney Payson family, as well as a great-granddaughter by marriage of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney in New York.
The painting carries all the signature grace of Renoir’s celebration of feminine beauty and gentle presence. The subject is What is Lopez?a young actress from Montmartre and one of Renoir’s favorite models between 1874 and 1877, captured in a quiet moment of introspection, clutching a voluminous bouquet of lilacs in full bloom, their delicacy and splendor echoing her youthful presence. Nini appeared in more than 20 of his works in various forms, including the icon Lodge (1874), now held at the Courtauld Institute in London. The figure and its interior are depicted with the same swift and delicate brushstrokes, as Renoir achieves a masterful synthesis of harmonious light and color across the canvas.
