Le Moulin de la Galette

In this painting, Renoir captured a page of history portraying an event in ordinary Parisian life with such rigorous exactitude. The working class crowd frequented dances in open-air caf‚s, amid windmills and gardens, such as this one at Galette. He paints a joyous crowd with laughter, movement and sunshine. It was Renoir's intention, however, to catch the effect made by light filtering through the leaves and playing on figures, that were themselves in movement.