Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Lot 509

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Scène d'Oedipe (scène antique)

Closed1 March 2017

Price Realised

GBP 118,750

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Scène d'Oedipe (scène antique)
signed 'Renoir.' (lower left)
oil on canvas
17 x 14 1/4 in. (43.2 x 36 cm.)
Painted in Paris in 1895

Ambroise Vollard, Paris.
Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 30 November 1981, lot 14.
Private collection, by whom acquired at the above sale, and thence by descent to the present owner.

Specialist note

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue critique of Pierre-Auguste Renoir being prepared by the Wildenstein Institute established from the archives of François Daulte, Durand-Ruel, Venturi, Vollard and Wildenstein.


Paul Gallimard, the director of the Theatre des Variétés commissioned Renoir to decorate his Parisian town house in 1895 and this is where we witness the subject of Oedipus debut in Renoir's work. Renoir was inspired by his friend and also actor, Monet-Sully, who played the role of Oedipus and was also Renoir's model in the present work.