by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 2, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Four onions and several heads of garlic lie across a crumpled cloth. Nothing has been polished into a ceremonial display. One onion sits apart at the left; the others cluster and overlap at the right. Loose blue and red marks trace the cloth’s border, while pink, yellow and brown strokes turn the vegetables into rounded forms. Renoir signed the canvas “Renoir. Naples. 81.” It is Onions, painted during his stay in Naples in 1881 and now in the Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts. Clark Art Institute catalogue, Onions, no. 280. [1]
This modest subject is a strong test of Renoir’s painting. The objects are ordinary, but their placement, colour and moving strokes are carefully considered. The Clark’s scholarly catalogue relates the work to his Italian journey, another still life made that year, the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel and the collector Sterling Clark. Its technical report also lets us distinguish the apparent speed of the image from how the paint and canvas were actually prepared. Clark catalogue and technical report. [1]
At a glance
- ArtistPierre-Auguste Renoir
- Date and place1881, Naples, written on the canvas
- MediumOil on canvas
- Size39.1 × 60.6 cm
- CollectionClark Art Institute, Williamstown, 1955.588
- First recorded saleRenoir to Paul Durand-Ruel, 22 May 1882, per the Clark provenance
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The cloth occupies much of the lower half of the painting. It is not spread flat: creases, turned edges and the blue-and-red border draw the eye across and around the vegetables. A single onion on the left balances the heavier group at the right. The garlic heads punctuate the gaps. The Clark catalogue describes that left-hand border as a counterweight to the main cluster. The placement feels unplanned because the objects are allowed to tilt and overlap, yet the separate onion and border keep the whole image in balance. Clark catalogue, pp. 676–78. [1]
Renoir sets the warm onions against a cooler wall. Follow the round bulbs from left to right: pale rose becomes orange, brown, yellow and green. Their papery tops rise above the table as fine, branching shapes. The garlic is smaller and paler, emerging from the cloth’s folds rather than standing apart. This is a painting of differences within a small family of forms. The objects rhyme without becoming identical.
The scene is also more specific than the title alone suggests. It contains both onions and garlic, and the artist recorded Naples in his signature. The museum connects this informality with his stay in southern Italy, while making clear that the canvas was destined to circulate through the Paris art market. It is reasonable to see a contrast with grander Parisian flower pieces; it would be too much to claim that these were the exact vegetables on a particular Neapolitan kitchen table. Clark catalogue essay. [1]
Brushstrokes and colour
Renoir changes the direction of his strokes according to what they need to do. Curving touches help the onions feel full; broken marks describe brittle skins and roots. On the wall behind them, comparatively regular diagonal strokes move from upper left towards lower right. The Clark catalogue notes that this background rhythm makes the rounded forms stand out. The different kinds of mark keep a simple group of vegetables visually active. Clark catalogue analysis. [1]
The catalogue compares this parallel handling with passages in Renoir’s The Bay of Naples, Evening, made around the same time, and contrasts it with an earlier Venetian work. It also notes a limited resemblance to Cézanne’s more systematic brushstrokes, while distinguishing their purpose: here Renoir uses repeated marks to make texture and pattern rather than Cézanne’s kind of colour-built structure. That comparison is useful if kept precise. Onions is not a Cézanne still life in disguise. Clark catalogue, pp. 677–78. [1]
The Clark’s technical examination found a thin greyish-white ground and mostly paste-like oil paint laid wet into wet. A blue-painted sketch may outline some onions, but the report detected no separate underdrawing medium. Unmixed bright red accents sit among colours that usually include white. These observations explain some of the image’s fresh-looking colour without requiring the unsupported claim that Renoir completed it in a single sitting. Clark technical report. [1]
The original canvas is fine-weave linen. Off-square edges and old pinholes suggest that Renoir may have painted it while the fabric was pinned flat to a board, before it took its later stretched form. The museum qualifies that as an inference from physical evidence. Its report also records later lining, retouching and a conservative cleaning decision in 1985. Those are part of the picture’s material history, not visible proof of the painting’s original colour in a small web image. Clark technical report. [1]
Naples and a pair of still lifes
Renoir travelled in Italy in 1881, visiting Naples late in the year. The Clark catalogue places Onions beside Fruits of the Midi, another still life signed “81” and now at the Art Institute of Chicago. The two share a relaxed surface and a wide tabletop composition, although Fruits of the Midi is larger and more formally arranged. The Chicago museum’s account of its own canvas also discusses the onions placed within that picture and the relationship between the two. These are separate paintings; the Clark’s accession 1955.588 belongs to Onions. Clark catalogue [1]; Art Institute of Chicago, Fruits of the Midi catalogue. [2]
A letter Renoir sent from Naples to Charles Deudon in December 1881 mentioned that he expected to send one or two still lifes to Durand-Ruel and thought one was good. The Clark catalogue suggests that Onions and Fruits of the Midi were likely the works he meant. It explicitly says that the letter does not identify which picture Renoir preferred. The letter gives valuable context for production and sale, with that uncertainty preserved. Clark catalogue and note 1. [1]
The dealer’s support mattered to Renoir’s freedom to travel. The Clark essay records that Paul Durand-Ruel began buying his paintings regularly early in 1881, after years in which he had relied heavily on individual patrons. That background helps explain why a small still life from Naples could enter a Paris dealer’s stock. It does not make the subject a coded statement about the artist’s finances; the connection is historical rather than a hidden meaning in each onion. Clark catalogue essay. [1]
Exhibition and ownership
The Clark provenance records Renoir selling Onions to Durand-Ruel on 22 May 1882. The catalogue treats its inclusion in the dealer’s April 1883 one-artist exhibition as probable. It also notes possible intermediate owners in the later chain, then a documented return to Durand-Ruel in 1921. Preserving those qualifiers is more accurate than presenting an uninterrupted list as certain. Clark catalogue provenance and exhibition register. [1]
Sterling Clark bought the painting from Durand-Ruel on 6 April 1922. The catalogue reports that he repeatedly called it a favourite among his Renoirs and used it to judge other pictures. This is a striking afterlife for a work whose subject could hardly be more everyday. It entered the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in 1955, where it carries accession 1955.588. Clark catalogue, provenance and collector account [1]; Clark museum store description. [3]
The work has since travelled to several exhibitions, including the Clark’s collection show in Madrid in 2010–11. Exhibition lists establish where the canvas was recorded, but do not by themselves show exactly how each audience responded. The strongest documented response available here is Sterling Clark’s own sustained enthusiasm. Clark catalogue exhibition register. [1]
Looking again
Start with the lone onion on the left, then trace the cloth’s coloured border to the overlapping group on the right. Notice where a root or papery stem becomes only a few strokes. Finally look behind the forms: diagonal marks organise the wall even as the tabletop seems freely brushed. The painting holds deliberate structure inside an image of everyday disorder. The word “simple” suits its ingredients; it does not describe the work Renoir did with them.
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Questions about Onions
He marked the canvas “Renoir. Naples. 81.” The Clark dates it to his stay in Naples in late 1881.
No. The still life includes onions and heads of garlic on and around a crumpled cloth with a red-and-blue border.
No. Both were made in 1881 and share aspects of Renoir’s handling, but Onions is the Clark’s 1955.588 canvas; Fruits of the Midi is a different painting at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Clark’s provenance records Paul Durand-Ruel buying it on 22 May 1882. Sterling Clark purchased it from the dealer in 1922.
Discussion
What do you notice when you return to Onions?
How does Renoir balance the lone onion against the group at the right?
Reader Insights
How does Renoir balance the lone onion against the group at the right?
The Clark catalogue links the picture to Renoir’s 1881 Naples trip and compares it with Fruits of the Midi.
Where do repeated background strokes make the vegetables look more rounded?
Join the Conversation
Share a close observation or a source-backed question about Renoir’s onions.
References
- John House, “Onions,” cat. 280, in Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, vol. 2, pp. 676–78, with technical report by Sandra L. Webber. Object identity, visual interpretation, Naples context, provenance and material evidence View source.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Fruits of the Midi scholarly catalogue, comparison with the distinct 1881 still life View source.
- Clark Art Institute museum store, Onions, collector-context summary View source.
- Whole-work image: Clark Art Institute source on Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Mark / faithful two-dimensional reproduction. The Clark catalogue PDF is cited for research and is not reproduced here View source.
