Bareheaded young woman’s direct gaze Symbolism

Individual agency and social address; pulls the viewer into the scene and contrasts with fashionably covered heads.

Common Themes

The modern lens: urban life & speedMedium reflexivity (art about art)Human vs. natureGender & sexualityFashion & adornmentClass & inequalityLabor & workChildhood & innocence

Artworks Featuring This Symbol

The Umbrellas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The Umbrellas

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (about 1881–86)

A sudden shower turns a Paris street into a lattice of <strong>slate‑blue umbrellas</strong>, knitting strangers into a single moving frieze. A bareheaded young woman with a <strong>bandbox</strong> strides forward while a bourgeois mother and children cluster at right, their <strong>hoop</strong> echoing the umbrellas’ arcs <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[5]</sup>.