Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette by Renoir Placemat

Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Bal du moulin de la Galette) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, oil on canvas 1876, is a painting of a large crowd dancing, eating and socializing in a large, outdoor dance garden on a pleasant, sunny day. The Moulin de la Galette was a famous windmill and surrounding businesses that was a social hub in the Montmartre district of Paris, where Renoir, many Impressionists and other avant-garde artists lived and worked. In the foreground a large group of Parisians eat and drink at tables and sit on benches, wearing elegant clothes, laughing and talking. Surrounding them is the large, outdoor dance floor, on which many couples dance under the trees and hanging lamps. The warm sunlight that breaks through the trees contrasts with the contrasting cool, blue tones of shadows. Painted quickly in fluid strokes of saturated oil colors, the picture captures a slice in time of a snapshot of real life in Paris. Renoir constructs a panoramic image of modern life that in its feeling for light, color, atmosphere and human warmth became an icon of the French Impressionist movement and one of the most famous paintings in the history of art.