Alphonsine Fournaise — Girl with a Fan (1881) — Renoir Postcard

Alphonsine Fournaise — the boatman's daughter Renoir painted so often at Chatou — holds a painted Japanese folding fan in front of a wall of white, pink and crimson chrysanthemums. The 1881 portrait, held at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, still carries the warm light of his Bougival summers — a card to send as a thank-you after a long lunch by the water.