“The world knew how to laugh in those days！ Machinery had not absorbed all of life： you had leisure for enjoyment and no one was the worse for it.” With this happy， wonderful picture， Renoir’s reminiscence seems a pallid understatement. The canvas is so rich in attractions， so full of enchanting details， that it becomes nothing less than an affirmation of the goodness of living.
　　 The painting celebrates the triumph of youth： the women are radiantly beautiful， the men as dashing and debonair as young blades ought to be. Renoir has become famous as a painter of the nude; but what painter has clothed the human form more entrancingly？ And with unbelievable virtuosity， he has animated his figures with an amazing variety of postures and activities—bold， relaxed， eager， withdrawn， flirtatious—all of them graceful and natural.
　　 There are bits of still life， shimmering patterns of the light fixtures， children—like the dainty blonde creature in the lower left—tucked in here and there. One even fancies that the buzz of voices， the shuffle of feet， and the gay dance tune are part of the composition.
　　 This is one of Renoir’s largest1 and most ambitious compositions; yet he was not to regard it as one of his best paintings. Despite its apparent crowding and turbulence， it reveals a studied organization. The triangular foreground group is related through silhouette and color to the group at the trees; and this group， through yellow and gold-brown tones， becomes part of a vertical unit that provides stability to the right of the canvas. The other side allows easy entrance into space over a ground dappled blue and pink—Renoir’s way of creating the effect of sunlight and shadow without introducing neutral dark values.
　　 Varied curves set up another series of rhythms. Rich color is contrasted with plain， and each is developed into an independent sub-theme： reds， yellows， blues， greens， blacks. Light flickers across the scene， resting here and there for compositional emphasis. Subject and method have been completely integrated into a unity that is one of the great achievements in the art of painting.                                      ■
　　“那時候，世人知道如何找乐子！生活还没有被机械化完全吞没：人们有闲暇享受生活，日子都过得挺好。”看到这幅欢快美妙的画作，雷诺阿的那番回忆似乎就显得苍白无力了。画面亮点如此丰富、细节如此迷人，完全呈现出一派美好生活的场景。
　　这幅画颂扬了青春的欢欣：女士光彩照人，男士风度翩翩，有着年轻人该有的潇洒劲儿。雷诺阿确以画裸体人物而成名，但还有哪位画家能把着装齐整的人物描绘得更加迷人呢？他画技精湛，令人叫绝，出神入化地呈现了姿态各异、各做各事的人物——他们有的大胆、有的放松、有的热切、有的孤僻、有的殷勤，所有人都大方而自然。
　　画中还描绘了一些静物、闪烁的灯具图案，还有不定藏在哪个角落的小孩子——比如左下角那个金发小美女。观画者甚至会感觉，那嗡嗡的交谈、拖动的舞步和欢快的舞曲都是此画的一部分。
　　这是雷诺阿尺幅最大、投入最多的作品之一，但他并不认为这是他最好的画作。尽管画面看起来拥挤混乱，但其实经过了精心安排。三角前景的一组人群经由侧影轮廓和颜色与树下的人群相关联，后者的黄色和金棕色色调使其成为垂直布局的一部分，这一布局使画面右侧保持稳定。左侧自然过渡到一片开阔的场地，地面散布斑驳的蓝色和粉色——雷诺阿用这种方式制造太阳光影的效果，而不用深浅不一的灰黑色。
　　不同的曲线构成了另一系列的有规则的变化。浓色与素色形成对比，每一种都发展出一个独立的副主题：浓淡不一的红、黄、蓝、绿、黑。整个场景遍布光点，在各处闪烁，突出不同的构图重点。画作主题与绘画技巧完美融合，创造出绘画艺术的一幅佳作。      □
　　1此画长131厘米、宽175厘米。