In Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children Georgette-Berthe and Paul-Emile-Charles (oil on canvas, 1878) Renoir captures the mise-en-scene of the upper class or upper middle class room of this woman’s family and compliments their status and taste by bringing the golden accents in the décor to the forefront. The walls, carpet, and chair are painted in yellow and a dark orange yellow or gold framing the woman and the kids in a warm way. Charpentier was an elite publisher’s wife and held parties for Flaubert and Gola. In this painting her average, but good-looking features and soft expression make her look more relaxed than uptight or pretentious. And, her dress, while fancy, shows that off with a dressy and semi-serious black color with tiered bottom and white crinoline, but a “casual” window element at her chest level with two large “bow ties” – one at her neck and one at her cleavage with white diaphanous material underneath. She is somewhat heavyset, but not too large looking with blue eyes and a softly androgynous face. The lunch table in the back of the painting on a diagonal line starting at either the top right or bottom right of the painting asks the viewer whether they want to look at the room or at the lovely children and then answers it for them (unless the viewer is a total misanthrope) with the answer to look at the kids and the dog, painting them in their identical blue dresses with one seated on a chair and one seated on the large black and white doggie.
This painting is appealing because it first catches your eye as a portrait, but the askew natural glances rather than forward facing glances of the subjects relax the viewers’ enough to make them want to get out and have a coffee if they drink it or a tea. But, before they go, it is definitely more appealing for the viewer to look at the kids and enjoy the colors used on them and on the chair cushion (gold with colored flowers like nice Japanese-themed stationary). The peacocks in the background give an “adult” feeling to this “nursery” as to further emphasize the innocence of the boy on the chair. The black and white of the dog coincides with the black and white of the mother’s dress and lowers her status a little, but the feeling of the painting is still happy. The modern-looking collar on the dog is relevant to the currently inspired times with metal nubs or stars on it. The impressionistic strokes tell you that you, too, can have a home like this because they don’t hold your eye down too harshly to the scene.
This piece is located in the famous 19th Century painting gallery of the Met and is large on a prominent wall with a bench situated in front of it for easy viewing.