Renoir - "Place Pigalle" - Pierre Francastel's analysis of the painting

The book "Peinture et société" -"Painting and Society"- , publish in 1951, is one of the most known of the great French art historian and sociologist Pierre Francastel and is still studied by many scholars and art-lovers. Although his work is sociological and historical comparative he makes us see many aspects of the work of some of the paintings he did choose as a database for his theory. He wrote about this Renoir painting and I did a translation of some aspects he stresses:

"Here only the first plan is defined whereas all the others are present." "The renascent vision associates in an arbitrary way details that can only be seen with precision one at a time." "This picture puts simultaneously at the same level impressionism and the fifteen century in the immense domain of illusion."

I will try to translate more of his insights and the way he approaches the creation and destruction of the what he understands as "renaissance space" that according to him cubism changed. Unfortunately there is no English translation of any of Francastel's work but the Austrian Ernest Gombrich is very appreciated in English language because he worked in England. Gombrich's "Story of Art" is the at the top of the list of books for those who want to know art. There are many ways to appreciate art. Studying is just one in a million.