by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 2, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
A huge straw hat, tied with a red bow, almost fills the upper half of this picture. Beneath its brim, one girl faces us while another turns toward her from the right. Their hands meet around a small open booklet at the lower left. Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted the scene now shown on this route as Les deux soeurs (The Two Sisters). The descriptive English title Two Young Girls Reading appeared in an exhibition record listed by Christie’s in its illustrated exact-work catalogue. [1] The auction image matches the inherited local reproduction, including the red bow, concealed foreground face and booklet.
Christie’s records an oil on canvas, 55.2 × 46.2 cm, painted circa 1890–95. Its catalogue places the painting in a private collection at the time of the 2014 sale. Those are facts about this specific picture, not about every Renoir work with girls and books. There are several closely named paintings, including works in Los Angeles and Portland, and their details should not be mixed.
Contents
- The work at a glance
- The hat before the faces
- A small book in a crowded frame
- Colour and touch
- A subject Renoir revisited
- Similar titles, different canvases
- Looking again
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Watch on YouTubeAt a glance
- ArtistPierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919)
- Christie’s titleLes deux soeurs (The Two Sisters)
- Local descriptive titleTwo Young Girls Reading
- DateCirca 1890–95 in Christie’s exact-work record
- MediumOil on canvas
- Canvas size55.2 × 46.2 cm (21¾ × 18¼ in.)
- Signature“renoir.” at upper left, as catalogued by Christie’s
- Documented ownershipPrivate collection at the time of Christie’s 2014 catalogue; current owner not verified here
- Permanent displayNo public collection established for this exact canvas by the sources consulted
The broad date matters. Christie’s lists earlier literature that assigned 1894–95 or 1890, but its own catalogue uses circa 1890–95. The local title should likewise be treated as a useful description rather than the painting’s single fixed name: Christie’s records an exhibition that called the same canvas Young Girls Reading in 1974 and literature that called it La Lecture. The composition and catalogue history, rather than a loose title match, identify the object.
The hat before the faces
The first shape the eye finds is the wide yellow crown and brim. Renoir builds it from gold, pale pink and olive strokes, then sets a bright red bow almost at its centre. The bow has folded loops and a knot, yet it remains lively paint rather than a carefully drawn accessory. Small dark marks at the top and right of the hat help the pale straw stand out from the shifting greens behind it.
The hat belongs to the girl nearest the viewer. She turns her back, so we see a little of her cheek under the brim but no clear view of her eyes. Her long fair hair falls over a loose white garment. The large hat and near shoulder occupy most of the right half of the canvas. Renoir thus makes a reading scene in which the reader closest to us cannot be met by a conventional portrait gaze.
The second girl appears to the left, partly sheltered by the same sweep of brim. Darker hair frames her face, and she looks downward toward the paper. Her cheek, nose and mouth are more legible than the first girl’s features, but the viewpoint still keeps her attention within the scene. The two figures lean close without requiring a particular conversation or a named relationship to make sense of their pose.
A small book in a crowded frame
The booklet is surprisingly modest. Its light pages enter from the lower left edge, and one hand supports them near the bottom centre. Christie’s describes it as a small book or pamphlet. The visible reproduction does not show enough text to say what the girls are reading. The title may suggest a shared activity, but the image does not identify a story, lesson or letter.
Renoir gives the paper broad white and grey strokes against the warm hands and dark hair. The eye moves from the intense bow down through the brim and the girls’ faces to this quieter patch. The book is the reason for their closeness; the hat is the visual event that makes the composition memorable. Christie’s catalogue similarly notes that the foreground reader’s hidden eyes and strong hat displace attention from the little book.
The surrounding space is abbreviated. Green and yellow marks behind the girls imply foliage and filtered light, without mapping a precise garden. A patch of blue near the lower left opens the crowded arrangement slightly. There is no firm architectural setting. The crop brings us close enough to study a ribbon, a cheek and the edge of a page while withholding most of the place around them.
Colour and touch
Warm gold and scarlet dominate the hat; cool green moves through the background; white and cream gather in the blouse and booklet. Rather than isolate every shape with a hard outline, Renoir lets adjacent strokes define one another. The red bow reads strongly because it rests against yellow straw and green surroundings. The pale shoulder comes forward because the darker hair and foliage press around it.
The handling varies by subject. The nearer girl’s clothing is broad and loosely layered. The left girl’s face is smoother and more concentrated, giving her expression more weight. The hat has both solid volume and broken colour. This contrast between quick surface marks and softly joined skin helps the picture feel intimate without turning into a photographic instant.
At the upper left, Christie’s records the painted signature. In the inherited 400-pixel image, it is difficult to inspect confidently. The auction house’s larger image confirms the overall composition.
A subject Renoir revisited
The Christie’s lot essay [1] places the painting among Renoir’s numerous pictures of young girls sharing quiet activities around 1890. Its account notes books, music and flower picking as repeated motifs. The gallery of similar subjects explains why short titles such as Reading, The Two Sisters and Young Girls Reading can be misleading without an image and object record.
Christie’s says the painting was probably made at Mézy, where Renoir visited Berthe Morisot and her family. It also proposes that the dark-haired model may be Julie Manet and discusses possible identities for the other figure. Those are researched suggestions in the sale essay, not names established by an inscription or an unambiguous sitter record. The page therefore describes the girls as models and keeps the proposed identifications conditional.
This picture’s documented trail begins with Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris by 1913 in Christie’s provenance. It then passes through the Cargill collection in Scotland and subsequent American owners before a private owner acquired it at a 1981 sale. Christie’s lists a 1974 loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a long loan to Kunsthaus Zürich from 1981 to 1991. An exhibition or loan does not make the work part of a museum’s permanent collection, and the catalogue does not establish where the canvas hangs today.
Similar titles, different canvases
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Two Girls Reading [2] is a different oil, dated circa 1890–91, with museum accession M.68.46.1. Its two girls wear hats and read together, but the arrangement is different. LACMA’s dimensions and current display information belong to that painting, not to the canvas with the single dominant yellow hat shown here.
The Portland Art Museum’s Young Girls Reading [3], accession 35.25, is another work. A Rouen museum exhibition entry [4] identifies that Portland picture as a 1891 Jeunes filles lisant. Christie’s also mentions a study for the Portland work in a separate La lecture lot. [5] These overlapping titles do not collapse the works into one object.
The Chicago Art Institute’s historical writing and other Renoir catalogues discuss still more paired girls. The useful comparison is visual: this page’s canvas is the close crop with a very large straw hat, conspicuous red bow, mostly hidden foreground face and small book at lower left. Once those details are established, museum records for nearby subjects can be read as comparisons instead of accidental ownership claims.
Looking again
Begin at the red bow, then follow the brim leftward to the dark-haired girl’s face. Move down to the pale booklet and the hands around it. Finally return through the light blouse and fair hair to the hat. Renoir has made a circuit in which a decorative object and an ordinary shared action carry equal weight.
The two girls stay absorbed in the small space they occupy. We can read closeness in their positions, but we cannot recover the words on the page or know precisely what they think. The painting holds those limits open. It is at once a scene of reading, a study of colour, and a portrait-like arrangement that hides one reader’s eyes.
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Questions about Two Young Girls Reading
Christie’s catalogues this exact canvas as Les deux soeurs (The Two Sisters). It also lists the English title Young Girls Reading in a 1974 exhibition record. Two Young Girls Reading is this site’s descriptive route title.
Christie’s gives circa 1890–95 for this specific oil. Earlier listed publications used narrower dates, so a single year is not secure from the exact-work record.
The Christie’s lot record measures the oil on canvas at 55.2 × 46.2 cm (21¾ × 18¼ inches).
Christie’s lot essay proposes possible identifications, including Julie Manet for the dark-haired sitter, but presents the setting and identities as scholarly possibilities. The image itself does not name the models.
No. LACMA owns another Two Girls Reading, and Portland owns a Young Girls Reading. The large yellow hat with a red bow and the tight crop identify the private-collection canvas discussed here.
Discussion
What do you notice when you return to these two readers?
How does the red bow lead your eye to the little book?
Reader Insights
How does the red bow lead your eye to the little book?
Christie’s catalogues this exact oil as circa 1890–95, 55.2 × 46.2 cm, under the title Les deux soeurs.
What do you notice about the nearer girl’s hidden eyes?
Join the Conversation
Share a close observation or a source-backed question about Renoir’s reading scene.
References
- Christie’s, Les deux soeurs, 2014 lot record: exact image, oil medium, circa 1890–95 date, 55.2 × 46.2 cm dimensions, provenance, exhibition titles and conditional sitter discussion View source.
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Two Girls Reading: distinct canvas and accession M.68.46.1 View source.
- Portland Art Museum, European art collection notes: distinct Young Girls Reading, accession 35.25 View source.
- Réunion des Musées Métropolitains Rouen Normandie, Jeunes filles lisant: exhibition account of the Portland painting View source.
- Christie’s, La lecture: a separate study for the Portland composition View source.
