Renoir Paintings Hanging Inside Cafe Renoir

　Renoir is good. After all, Renoir's paintings hang on the walls. While working, I glance up for a moment, and that brightness steals my attention. The gentleness of Renoir's colors makes me think of the gentleness of people themselves.

　Portrait of Irene Cahen d'Anvers. To paint chestnut-colored hair with such elegance. That alone feels like proof that Renoir observed people carefully, and loved them deeply.

　Then my eyes drift elsewhere. There is Bal du moulin de la Galette. The liveliness of that painting is astonishing. Even from an empty seat, it feels as though the footsteps of a dance party are echoing out of the canvas.

　When people think of Renoir, they think of people. He captured so many ordinary moments of everyday life, and never once with cynicism. Among the Impressionists, a group full of eccentric personalities, there were few who believed in human warmth as sincerely as he did.

　Yet in reality, the conversations taking place inside the café are often things like hostess-club recruitment pitches or insurance contracts. Beneath Renoir's joy-filled paintings and the sound of classical music, thoroughly mundane discussions unfold. Perhaps that, in its own way, is contemporary art.

　There's a famous comparison between Renoir and Monet. The fascinating part is how differently they looked at the same scene.

　This is Renoir's La Grenouillère. Like the paintings mentioned above, it beautifully depicts people enjoying the richness of everyday life.

　Meanwhile, Monet's La Grenouillère. As expected of Monet, the reflections on the water are breathtaking. The people, by contrast, are simplified and hazy, almost as if they exist merely to accentuate the surface of the water.

　People and water.

　Even when looking at the exact same place, our eyes settle on entirely different things. Yet both perspectives possess their own kind of beauty.

　So I sit in Renoir, drinking coffee while listening to the noise of MLM recruiters loudly pitching their schemes, and I think about the lives of the Impressionists. If Renoir had painted this café, would it too have become a scene overflowing with elegance and joy?