''The Braid'', also known as ''Femme se coiffant'', ''La Natte'', or ''Girl Braiding Her Hair'', is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist

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 Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "R ...

, created between 1886-1887 during his so-called dry or Ingres period.Feist, Peter H. (2000).
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919: A Dream of Harmony
'. Taschen. pp. 54-67. . Renoir traveled to Italy in 1881, where he viewed the masterpieces of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

. He returned home, and by 1883, he began to think he had "exhausted Impressionism". He started to use more detailed brushstrokes and pursued structure in his overall work, breaking with his previous style and returning to the Neoclassicism of painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. French painter Suzanne Valadon was the model for the woman in the painting, but her appearance was changed by Renoir to appear Italian.Preiswerk-Lösel, Eva-Maria (ed.) (2005). ''A Home for the Impressionists: The Langmatt Museum. The Sidney and Jenny Brown Foundation, Baden, Switzerland''. Hatje Cantz. pp. 34, 127-128. Valadon was a model for many of Renoir's works, including ''

Dance in the City ''Dance in the City'' is a painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 1883 work is in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay. The dancers are model and artist Suzanne Valadon and Renoir's friend Paul Auguste Lhôte. This work, along with ...

'' (1883), ''

Dance at Bougival ''Dance at Bougival'' ( French: ''La danse à Bougival'') is an 1883 work by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, currently in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Described as "one of the museum's most beloved works", it i ...

'' (1883), '' Portrait of Suzanne Valadon'' (1885), and '' Suzanne Valadon'' (1885). The painting is held by the

Museum Langmatt A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...

References

External links

Description
at the

. Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1887 paintings Suzanne Valadon {{19C-painting-stub