ooking back at his Odalisque and comparing it with his series in Algeria, Renoir’s experience with the real Algeria has certainly changed his perception of it. He turned his darkly seductive women to rosy cheeked brunettes, a perception still focused on women. While his Odalisque gave him dreams of exotic Algerian women lounging in their boudoirs, the reality of Algeria gave him much less inspiration. His expedition began with pseudo-cultural cityscapes that quickly gave way to figure paintings. It’s ironic that in exploring a country more and getting closer to its people, Renoir actually ended up farther away from the “true” Algeria and closer to his own uncultured views. Georges Rivière, a close friend of Renoir, explains the disconnect between Renoir and Algeria: “By a sort of ethnic instinct, he felt too profoundly attached to the country of his childhood to give himself entirely to a world that was so different […] exoticism, far from being a stimulant for him, struck his spirit with a sort of inhibition” (Rivière 191-192). Firmly rooted in his homeland, Renoir’s encounter with “a world that was so different” (Rivière 191) would understandably fail to open his eyes to such a different culture. Compound this “inhibition” with the disappointment in never finding that dark Odalisque, and Renoir’s sentiments are more easily understood. Without a mass of Algerians willing to pose for him, Renoir was faced with losing that image of Algeria which he had so wanted to find. He pursued his search for models and, when he ultimately found them, he filtered reality and molded Algeria’s women to his own taste for the idealized French woman. In taming the beauty of the North African woman, Renoir’s work in Algeria resulted in a pursuit of women that glossed over what this Arab country really was.
Images: Renoir, Auguste. Odalisque. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.