Renoir, Pierre-Auguste

(b. Feb. 25, 1841, Limoges, France--d. Dec. 3, 1919, Cagnes)
French painter originally associated with the Impressionist movement. His early works were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women (e.g. , Bathers, 1884-87).

Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919). French Impressionist painter, born at Limoges. In 1854 he began work as a painter in a porcelain factory in Paris, gaining experience with the light, fresh colors that were to distinguish his Impressionist work and also learning the importance of good craftsmanship. His predilection towards light-hearted themes was also influenced by the great Rococco masters, whose works he studied in the Louvre. In 1862 he entered the studio of Gleyre and there formed a lasting friendship with Monet, Sisley, and Bazille. He painted with them in the Barbizon district and became a leading member of the group of Impressionists who met at the Café Guerbois. His relationship with Monet was particularly close at this time, and their paintings of the beauty spot called La Grenouillère done in 1869 (an example by Renoir is in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) are regarded as the classic early statements of the Impressionist style. Like Monet, Renoir endured much hardship early in his career, but he began to achieve success as a portraitist in the late 1870s and was freed from financial worries after the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel began buying his work regularly in 1881. By this time Renoir had 'travelled as far as Impressionism could take me', and a visit to Italy in 1881-82 inspired him to seek a greater sense of solidarity in his work. The change in attitude is seen in The Umbrellas (NG, London), which was evidently begun before the visit to Italy and finished afterwards; the two little girls on the right are painted with the feathery brush-strokes characteristic of his Impressionist manner, but the figures on the left are done in a crisper and drier style, with duller coloring. After a period of experimentation with what he called his `manière aigre' (harsh or sour manner) in the mid 1880s, he developed a softer and more supple kind of handling. At the same time he turned from contemporary themes to more timeless subjects, particularly nudes, but also pictures of young girls in unspecific settings. As his style became grander and simpler he also took up mythological subjects (The Judgement of Paris; Hiroshima Museum of Art; 1913-14), and the female type he preferred became more mature and ample. In the 1890s Renoir began to suffer from rheumatism, and from 1903 (by which time he was world-famous) he lived in the warmth of the south of France. The rheumatism eventually crippled him (by 1912 he was confined to a wheelchair), but he continued to paint until the end of his life, and in his last years he also took up sculpture, directing assistants (usually Richard Guino, a pupil of Maillol) to act as his hands (Venus Victorious; Tate, London; 1914).

Renois is perhaps the best-loved of all the Impressionists, for his subjects---pretty children, flowers, beautiful scenes, above all lovely women---have instant appeal, and he communicated the joy he took in them with great directness. `Why shouldn't art be pretty?', he said, `There are enough unpleasant things in the world.' He was one of the great worshippers of the female form, and he said `I never think I have finished a nude until I think I could pinch it.' One of his sons was the celebrated film director Jean Renoir (1894-1979), who wrote a lively and touching biography (Renoir, My Father) in 1962.

[ Bathers | Portraits | Dancers | Landscapes | Still Lifes ]

31.0K, 589 x 876	MORE INFO La Première Sortie (The First Outing) Painted: 1875-76 National Gallery London	MORE INFO Les Parapluies (Umbrellas) Painted: 1883 Oil on canvas 180 x 115 cm National Gallery London	39.4K, 349 x 494
153.3K, 900 x 1106	MORE INFO Nini in the Garden Painted: 1875-76 Oil on canvas 24 3/8 x 20 in Philadelphia Museum of Art	MORE INFO Le Moulin de la Galette Painted: 1876 Oil on canvas 131 x 175 cm Musée d'Orsay Paris	171.7K, 1073 x 790
112.5K, 740 x 1112	The Parisian (La Parisienne) Painted: 1874 Oil on canvas 160 x 106 cm National Museum of Wales Cardiff	MORE INFO La loge (The Theater Box) Painted: 1874 Oil on canvas 80 x 63.5 cm Courtauld Institute Galleries London	162.3K, 818 x 1023
45.1K, 399 x 600	The Laundress Painted: The Laundress Art Institute of Chicago	Madame Charpentier and Her Children Paul (at her knee) and Georgette Painted: 1878 Proust compared it with "Titian at his best"	55.1K, 689 x 554
66.3K, 525 x 659	La famille de l'artiste Painted: 1896 Oil on canvas 173 x 140 cm	Feeding	30.1K, 386 x 480
151.0K, 792 x 1068	Jeunes filles au piano (Girls at the piano) Painted: 1892 Oil on canvas 116 x 90 cm Musee d'Orsay Paris	Lady at the Piano Painted: 1875 Oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago	46.9K, 473 x 600
48.9K, 382 x 475	In the meadow	La promenade Painted: ca 1906 Oil on canvas 65 x 129 cm	65.9K, 515 x 656
56.8K, 632 x 727	A Morning Ride in the Bois de Boulogne Painted: 1873 Oil on canvas 261 x 226cm Kunsthalle Hamburg	Young Women Talking Painted: 1878	57.2K, 562 x 730
28.5K, 301 x 600	Young Boy with a Cat Painted: 1868-69 Musee d'Orsay Paris	Jugglers at the Cirque Fernando Painted: 1879 The Art Institute of Chicago	39.8K, 439 x 600
198.1K, 819 x 1057	The Swing Painted: 1876 Oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm Musee d'Orsay Paris	On the Terrace Painted: 1881 Oil on canvas 100.5 x 81 cm cm The Art Institute of Chicago	216.5K, 827 x 1034
194.1K, 795 x 1081	A Girl With a Watering Can Painted: 1876 Oil on canvas 100 x 73 cm The National Gallery of Art Washington