A visit to Renoir in Ottawa

I don’t usually post on the weekend but I’m winding down from a lovely day at the museum. A friend called me because she wanted to go to Ottawa to see the Renoir exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada . Ottawa is a two-hour drive from Montreal and it had been a while since I’ve done something like that so, off I went. I’m not an art expert, not even vaguely close to one, but I do love Renoir’s paintings. The exhibit was of this earlier works, from 1865-1883 .

I surprised myself when we came across a painting and I commented to my friend that the particular painting had a Monet-type quality (not that I know much about Monet, but I have seen photos of several of his paintings). The surprise came when we read the description and that he had painted this painting side by side with Monet, and Monet’s piece was hanging next to it, a few feet over.

I bought a poster-size print of this one; it was the lilacs on the side that attracted me. Very fetching, I thought:

And I bought a smaller print, page size for my office of this one:

I really liked these two:

It was a very enjoyable way to spend the day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Not scorching hot like it has been and I love watching tourists, speaking so many different languages, as they tour our capital city. The parliament buildings are beautiful, I get goosebumps when I see the beautiful and touching War Memorial, and I am very proud when I’m in Ottawa. It’s such a beautiful city and I’m glad that others see fit to come visit us.