Similarly, the woman model in Dance in the City does not relish in the fun of the dance, told by her lifeless mouth. Renoir painted Dance in the City in the same year as Dance at Bougival, but it was as part of a pair with Dance in the Country. They are the same size canvas, and were hung together as pendants in Paul Durand-Ruel’s gallery (Martini 14). Like Dance at Bougival, the woman’s mouth does not curve upwards to show she is enjoying dance, however this painting has a new setting: the city.
The woman is seen in a far more elegant light. Her head is profile and she wears an elaborate shimmering white dress. Still, her smile is not there. Even facing profile, her mouth tells us about the nature of the dance in this painting. Her lips sit closed together in a straight horizontal line with no teeth showing, not curved up in a pleasant smile. Further, Renoir doesn’t make much of her lips; they are not colored, but more of a nude skin color, so they are barely even visible. This emphasizes the fact that she is not smiling. Her mouth shows there is no sense of joy radiating from her. This may be due to the fact that she is again Suzanne Valadon. Although he paints her more elegantly than in Dance at Bougival, her lips are tight and intense, not smiling enjoying the whirl with her partner. Again, we sense Renoir’s discomfort with Suzanne projected on her in this painting. Renoir may have felt threatened by Suzanne. There is evidence provided by Gotz Adriani that says Renoir preferred women who couldn’t read or write and that he always needed to be in charge of women, “the boss” (Adriani 19). Renoir was so concerned with how he was viewed in society, that he felt that he needed to keep women not as smart as him so they would not be a threat to his reputation. From his obvious dislike for Suzanne shown by her unsmiling face in this painting, it seems that he was threatened by her. She appears to have had some wit because she would dance with many men and make a living posing for artists (Fosca 82). Thus, Renoir painted her mouth sourly in Dance in the City to almost punish her for her lifestyle.
Renoir, Auguste. Dance in the City. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. 1883.