''La Loge'' ('The Theatre Box') is an 1874 oil painting by

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, feminine sensuality ...

. It is part of the collection at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

in London. Vegelin van Claerbergen, Ernst; Wright, Barnaby, eds. (2008). ''Renoir at the theatre: looking at la loge,'' The Courtauld Gallery, The painting depicts a young couple in a box at the Paris theatre. The woman was modelled by Nini Lopez, Renoir's new model who would feature in fourteen of his paintings over the next few years. The man was his brother Edmond, a journalist and art critic. Going to the theatre was as much about being seen as watching the performance and whilst the woman is making her presence obvious, her companion is scanning the audience through his opera-glasses. ''La Loge'' was included in the Impressionists’ first group exhibition in 1874, where reaction was mixed. It was subsequently shown in London in an exhibition organised by his dealer

Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

, making it one of the earliest

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...

paintings to be shown in England, but did not sell at either exhibition. It was bought the following year by the dealer ‘Père’ Martin for 425 francs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loge, La 1874 paintings Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Paintings in the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art