Masters of Art Homage to Pierre-Auguste Renoir Limited Edition 92 Fountain Pen

Great artists throughout history have expressed the human experience in a universal language of form and beauty. The Montblanc Masters of Art Collection honors their eternal contribution to the quest for perfection in art – a quest Montblanc both celebrates and participates in.Pierre-Auguste Renoir is one of the most prominent forerunners of modernism, whose sun-drenched paintings helped set the tone for an entire movement: Impressionism. Acknowledging with respect the pioneering achievement of this distinguished French Impressionist who continues to fascinate art lovers to this day, Montblanc has created the Masters of Art Homage to Pierre-Auguste Renoir Limited Edition 92.The impressionists, first and foremost Renoir, were drawn out of their studios and into nature to capture moments of changing mood with vibrant colours, spontaneous brush strokes on canvas. This typical creative style, applying the paint in quick brushstrokes directly next to each other without blending them, is reflected in the Limited Edition 92, whose solid Au 750 gold barrel features handpainted inlays in colours separated by fine gold-coloured strips.Colour and design of this edition celebrate one of the most significant paintings of Renoir’s Impressionist phase: the Luncheon of the Boating Party. The initial horror with which the impressionists’ technique was met had in the meantime given way to great enthusiasm. The Luncheon of the Boating Party was ‘fresh and free without being too bawdy,’ applauded the critics, ‘… one of the best things Renoir has painted …’. Renoir depicts the joie de vivre of a convivial lunchtime gathering in a restaurant on the Île de Chatou, where people of all social classes meet to enjoy their leisure time outside the city – whether elegant in top hat and Sunday best or casual and sleeveless with straw hat. Inspired by these typical hats of the time, a braiding pattern covers the solid Au 750 gold cap, while the colours of the awning, flapping in the breeze, are reflected in the lacquer inlays of the barrel. The light brown Kalahari Jasper of the cap top, in which the Montblanc emblem in iridescent mother-of-pearl is embedded, conveys the warm atmosphere of the light-filled scene. An eye-catching feature is the gold-coated clip in the form of two brushes, – the tip of the flat one seemingly still coated in brown – with which Renoir has seemingly just put the finishing touches to one of his masterpieces.As a tribute to Renoir’s drawing skills, a tip made of soft solid Au 999 gold is integrated into the cone,providing the means to create silverpoint sketches of one’s own.The handcrafted, solid Au 750 gold nib, decorated with an image borrowed from one of Renoir’s last self-portraits, and the limitation number engraved on the gold cap top ring pay tribute to his late period. At the beginning of the 1890s, Renoir’s admirers voiced their resentment of the fact that the French state had not yet officially purchased a single work from this renowned artist. Finally, in 1892 – a decisive year and one which inspired the limitation of the edition to just 92 pieces – Renoir was commissioned to paint a picture for the new Musée du Luxembourg. It was here that the impressionists were to be exhibited in a national museum for the first time.