A Girl with a Watering Can

A small girl in a blue dress trimmed with lace stands in a flowering garden, a watering can in one hand and a few blossoms in the other, a ribbon in her hair, her face soft and serious. Renoir surrounds her with dabs of red, white, and green that dissolve into a haze of summer warmth and light. Now in Washington's National Gallery, A Girl with a Watering Can is among his most beloved images of childhood - tender, sun-filled, and utterly charming, the Impressionist delight in light and color turned to the sweetness of a single child in bloom.