The Pont des Arts, Paris
1867–1868
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)
Oil on canvas
The Norton Simon Foundation
Planted in the heart of Paris, we stand on the Left Bank of the Seine, looking upstream toward the wrought-iron Pont des Arts. A ferry pulls up to the quayside, crowded with commuters and idlers from all walks of life: leisured ladies in bright crinolines and smartly turned-out dandies, scrappy street urchins and soldiers in crimson trousers, romping dogs and a blue-smocked working man, seated on the riverbank. Up the ramp at right, secondhand booksellers trade in the shadow of the domed Institut de France, while on the horizon at left appear the brand-new theaters of the Place du Châtelet. The crisp shadows and liberally applied black are typical of Renoir’s early career, when the artist and his friend Monet set out to document their changing city in a celebrated series of views to which this one belongs.
Love Locks and the Pont des Arts
In 2015, the city of Paris’s government decided to remove over a million “love locks” from the Pont des Arts bridge to save this historic landmark. Collectively weighing about 45 metric tons, these locks—often bearing couples’ names or initials—threatened the bridge’s integrity. Renoir’s view of the bridge was one of three masterworks from the Norton Simon Museum’s collections on display at the Musée d’Orsay when the government made this announcement. As Renoir’s painting shows, the Pont des Arts was as central to Parisian life in the 19th century as it is today.
