Pierre-Auguste Renoir, “Reading”

One of the most representative interiors in the villa of the collector Max Silberberg at Landsbergerstrasse 1-3 (currently Kutnowska Street) was the dining room designed by the renowned artist August Endell. The color scheme of the walls, furniture upholstery, and carpet was designed with the display of modernist works of art in mind. Among the three paintings that adorned this interior, alongside masterpieces by Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne, there was a composition by Renoir depicting two girls engrossed in reading. A century later, this canvas would be exhibited in the Louvre. The choice of this painting for permanent display in the most important museum in Paris clearly attests to the high artistic rank of the work. However, it raises the question of how Wrocław’s art collections would look today if Jewish collectors such as Max Silberberg, Carl Sachs, and Leo Lewin had not been forced to leave the city and hastily dispose of their assets. Most likely, to see masterpieces of the Impressionists, one would not have to travel to the capital of France.

“Reading” belongs to Renoir’s famous series depicting young girls from the upper echelons engaged in domestic pastimes such as reading or playing the piano. The same pair of models posed for these representations. The culmination of this series was the large-format canvas “Girls at the Piano,” created around 1891 and 1892, which is now housed in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The work was commissioned by the French government for exhibition in the newly established Musée du Luxembourg, which was intended to gather works by recognized living artists, a testament to the extraordinary nobility accorded to Renoir as an artist.

It is no wonder that the collector highly valued this canvas. Before it became part of his collection, it belonged to the holdings of Adolf Rothermundt in Dresden. Through the mediation of Paul Cassirer, the painting came into the possession of Max Silberberg. During the sale of paintings from his collection at the Galerie Georges Petit in Paris, “Lecture” was acquired by André Schoeller from Paris. The next owner was Victor Lyon from Geneva. As mentioned earlier, this masterpiece is currently housed in the Louvre.

Painting Informacion:

oil on canvas, dimensions: 55 x 65 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Literature: Collections de Messieurs S… et S…, Tableau Modernes, Paris, 9 Juin 1932, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris 1932, nr 30.