Dance in the Country

Dance in the Country is an 1883 oil painting by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, measuring 180 by 90 centimetres and held today at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. It depicts a life-size couple dancing beneath a chestnut tree, the male dancer modeled by Renoir's friend Paul Lhote and the female dancer by Aline Charigot, who later became Renoir's wife; the woman holds a fan and wears a yellow glove and red hat. The painting was commissioned in 1882 by the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel as one of a set exploring the theme of balls, alongside the companion works Dance in the City and Dance at Bougival, and reflects a shift in Renoir's style following his 1881 travels in Italy, where he studied the work of Raphael.