La Loge by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 1874 painting La Loge is a fine example of artists such as Renoir and Edgar Degas pursuing the modern-life subject by portraying the night life of Paris. Here Pierre-Auguste Renoir presents a fashionable couple at the opera. In La Loge, the woman's accessories -- fresh flowers pinned to her dress, a painted fan, and gold opera glasses -- as well as the man looking through his glasses at an audience member in a balcony above reveals Renoir's sharp eye for contemporary detail.

La Loge by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (oil on canvas, 31-1/2x25 inches) is housed at the Courtland Institute Gallery in London.

In paintings such as La Loge, and the next one we'll see, Renoir made a name for himself as a chronicler of modern times.

For more on Impressionist paintings, artists, and art history, see:

• Impressionism
• Vincent van Gogh
• Claude Monet