The members of the jury of the Salon, visitors to the exhibitions and buyers demanded interesting factual content to paintings, or humorous but factual pictures. Renoir, in his pictures, tells us little stories, but usually of everyday life in Paris. The impressionists discovered the individual value of the moment, giving expression to everything that is in constant movement. Renoir made observations of the theatre and the circus.
He painted an elegant ballet dancer and two small artist of the Fernando circus. More importantly though, he looked at the audience in the box.
In his picture "The Box" a couple are waiting for the theatre to start. The gentlemen is Edmond his brother. Edmond is sitting behind the lady and his face is obscured by binoculars. The lady, Nini Lopez (a model) is radiant. She has been drawn in a classic posture.
The whole picture is about the charm of the young girl. Renoir showed this picture in the first Impressionist exhibition, but only the art dealer Père Martin bought it for 425 francs.

Two years later, Renoir painted another box. A young girl went to the opera for the first time. In her face, you can see the anxious admiration captured in the posture and the facial expression.