Girl with a Fan

The Woman with the Fan is a painting by Renoir in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Composed in 1881, it represents Alphonsine Fournaise, daughter of his friend Alphonse Fournaise, owner of the Auberge du Père Fournaise which we see painted in his famous painting Le Déjeuner des canotiers. Alphonsine Fournaise is depicted leaning on the railing listening to Baron Raoul Barbier, a close friend of Renoir. The Woman with the Fan is a portrait that represents her and pays tribute to the Spanish pictorial tradition. The young woman, dressed in purple and sitting in a red armchair, unfurls a fan.