József Rippl-Rónai and Woman in Pink Dress and Black Collar

'Woman in Pink Dress and Black Collar' (1915) by József Rippl-Rónai;
Private Collection

I had never heard of Hungarian painter József Rippl-Rónai, born on May 23, 1861. But I am glad to do a post on him today because there's a lot of his work that I liked instantly. In 1884 he studied art at the Academy in Munich and in 1887 he went to Paris to work in the studio of Mihály Munkácsy. Two years later he distanced himself from the style of Munkácsy and became friendly with Scottish artist James Pitcairn-Knowles. Together they moved to Neuilly near Paris. Between 1889 and 1900, his style was characterised by the reduction of colours. The painting shown here is of a later date when he used bright colours again. I love this portrait and the soft pink. It is pastel on paper and not oil on canvas which is not so difficult to see.