Young Girls at the Piano

A painting for the French state

In 1892, the French state asked Pierre-Auguste Renoir for a painting for the Musée du Luxembourg, the museum of living artists in Paris. He painted several versions of two girls at a piano before choosing one. The chosen canvas is now in the Musée d’Orsay. It was his first work to enter a French national collection.

Two girls absorbed in music

A fair-haired girl in white sits at the piano, while a dark-haired girl in a pink dress leans over her shoulder to follow the music. Their heads almost touch. The scene is quiet and intimate.

Hands on the keys

The blonde girl’s hand rests on the keys. Renoir painted it lightly, in soft creamy strokes, without sharp detail.

The sheet music stands open on the piano, with two brass candleholders in front.

A vase of flowers and a green curtain

At the top right, a vase of flowers stands on the piano, and a green curtain hangs behind. The warm, soft colours fill the room with comfort. Renoir’s late style is smooth and rounded, far from the broken strokes of his Impressionist years.

Questions about Young Girls at the Piano

Where is it?

Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Are there other versions?

Yes. Renoir painted several, including versions in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée de l’Orangerie.

Who commissioned it?

The French state, in 1892, for the Musée du Luxembourg.

How large is it?

About 116 × 90 centimetres, oil on canvas.

Sources and image credit

• Musée d’Orsay: Jeunes filles au piano
• Wikimedia Commons: Young Girls at the Piano (Google Art Project)

Public-domain reproduction of Young Girls at the Piano (1892), via Wikimedia Commons (Google Art Project). Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.