Returning now to Le Moulin de la Galette, we can understand how the women in the couples may have made Renoir uncomfortable. Renoir had trouble being intimate with women until Aline. He only liked them if they were under his total control and if they would pose for him. He also had problems with his self-esteem, thus the women in this painting may have seemed threatening to him. By the frowning mouths of the women, we can see that the women made Renoir uncomfortable. In the rough oil study Bal du Moulin de la Galette (1876) in Paris, we can see that the most clear woman’s face in the foreground has drooping lips. Renoir was sure of his depiction of frowns instead of smiles. Even though Renoir painted this canvas and Le Moulin de la Galette right on the dance floor en plen-air (Fosca 79), completely immersed in the scene he still could not capture the genuinely joyous occasion of spinning couples on a Sunday afternoon. He was too concerned with class and social roles. In fact, he explains himself the reason why his figures do not smile is because of his obsession with social standing: “It is difficult for painting to be accepted as really great painting whilst remaining joyous. Because Fragonard smiled, people have quickly said that he is a minor painter. 
They don’t take people seriously who smile” (Renoir qtd. Renoir… 14). Renoir did not want to become a minor painter like Fragonard, so he didn’t paint figures with smiles. He was so concerned with what people thought of him that he couldn’t accurately depict the exciting event of dancing on Montmartre, in the country, or in the city. He thought that smiling dancers would lower his reputation as a painter. Clearly, Renoir is more complicated than just a simple “painter of happiness.” He had some real problems with where he fit into society. In this group of paintings, he felt most comfortable with Aline, his future wife, a working-class girl, and thus he allowed only her to enjoy the exhilaration of the dance.
Bal du Moulin de la Galette. Huile sur toile. 131x175 cm. Musee d’Orsay, Paris. R.M.N. 1876.