Background
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on February 25, 1841 in Limoges, France. He was the son of Léonard Renoir, a tailor, and Marguerite (Merlet) Renoir, a seamstress.
14 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris, France
In 1862, Pierre-Auguste started to attend evening courses in drawing and anatomy at the École des Beaux-Arts.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on February 25, 1841 in Limoges, France. He was the son of Léonard Renoir, a tailor, and Marguerite (Merlet) Renoir, a seamstress.
Renoir studied at a local Catholic school, when he was a child. In 1862, Pierre-Auguste started to attend evening courses in drawing and anatomy at the École des Beaux-Arts. It was also in 1862, that he began attending painting lessons at the studio of Charles Gleyre.
Renoir won acceptance into the annual Paris Salon exhibit in 1864. There, he showed the painting "La Esmeralda", which was inspired by a character from Victor Hugo's "Notre-Dame de Paris". The following year, Renoir again showed at the prestigious Salon, this time displaying a portrait of William Sisley, the wealthy father of artist Alfred Sisley.
In 1870, Renoir was drafted into the French Army for the war against Germany. The artist was a part of cavalry unit, but fell ill with dysentery and hence did not see any action during the war.
In the early 1870's, Renoir and his friends joined with other avant-garde artists to form a loose-knit artistic circle, now known as the Impressionism movement. He participated in the first impressionist exhibition in 1874 and throughout the 1870's remained committed to impressionist ideals. Renoir, however, continued to produce paintings of a more traditional sort, including portraits and scenes of leisure enjoyment, such as "Le Moulin de la Galette".
In his portraits and society paintings, Renoir masterfully rendered the shimmering interplay of light and color on surfaces, the prime goal of Impressionism, but also kept an underlying sensuality.
Renoir's growing dissatisfaction with the formal restrictions of pure Impressionism intensified during a visit to Algiers and Italy (1881-1882). In response, he made his figures larger and placed them closer to the picture plane, with a setting, treated like a simple backdrop.
Beginning from the 1890's, Renoir concentrated almost exclusively on the female figure, using warmer flesh tones, more exotic colors and a tapestried treatment of landscape. In 1905, he settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice. Its sun-drenched climate is reflected in the intense colors of his later works. In his last years after 1913, the painter also executed sculpture with the aid of an Italian assistant.
Jeanne Durand Ruel
Woman with Parasol
Madame Henriot
Lise with Umbrella
Head of a Young Woman Wearing a Blue Scarf (Madame Henriot)
Pont Neuf
Sailboats at Argenteuil
Boating at Argenteuil
Mademoiselle Legrand
Charles le Coeur
The Blue Lady
The Seine at Argenteuil
Georgette Charpentier Seated
Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne
Jeanne Sisley
Spring at Catou
Portrait of Mademoiselle Sicotg
Mother and Сhildren
Portrait of Victor Chocquet
Pierre Henri Renoir
La Grenouillere
Roses in a Vase
Riding in the Bois de Boulogne (Madame Henriette Darras or The Ride)
Woman with a Parasol
Place de la Trinite
Portraits of Marie Sophie Chocquet
Crown of Roses
Girl with a Pink Feather
Reading the Part
Path Through the Woods
Georges Riviere and Margot
Parisian Women in Algerian Costume (The Harem)
Leonard Renoir
Portrait of Madame Alphonse Daudet
Monet, Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil
Young Woman Braiding Her Hair
Camille Monet Reading
Madame Monet
Place de la Trinite
Girl with a Watering Can
Sleeping Cat
Two Figures in a Landscape
Self-Portrait
Modele from the Moulin de la Galette
The Gust of Wind
Frederic Bazille Painting The Heron (Frederic Bazille at his Easel)
The Fisherman
Woman with a Rose
Orchard at Louveciennes the English Pear Tree
Young Man and Young Woman
Confidences
Village Street, Louveciennes
Summer Landscape
Banks of the River
The Promenade
Portrait of a Young Woman
Girl with a Dog
The Field
The Clown (James Bollinger Mazutreek)
The Inn of Mother Anthony
The Cafe
Young Woman in White Reading
Conversation in a Rose Garden
Jacques Eugene Spuller
Vase of Lilacs and Roses
Torso Before the Bath
Woman with a Black Dog
Woman with a Cat
Nini Lopez
A Needlewoman
Portrait of Madame Claude Monet
The Path Through the Forest
Gladiolas in a Vase
Roses in a China Vase
In St Cloud Park
Strong Wind (Gust of Wind)
Reclining Nude
Head of a Woman
Romaine Lascaux
Portrait of Claude Monet
The Artist's Mother
Child with Punch Doll
The Reader (Young Woman Reading a Book)
The First Outing
Madame Henriot
Garden in the Rue Cortot
Place de la Trinite
Study Torso Sunlight Effect
The Champs Elysees during the Paris Fair of 1867
Young Boy with a Cat
Woman on a Staircase
Lise on the Bank of the Seine
Lady in a Black Dress
Nude Sitting in the Forest
Man on a Staircase
Madame Stora in Algerian Dress
Spring Bouquet
The Painter Alfred Sisley
Young Woman with a Japanese Umbrella
Self-Portrait at the Age of Thirty Five
Serving Girl From Duval
Girl Crocheting
Portrait of Edmond Maitre (The Reader)
Portrait of an Anonymous Sitter
Tama the Japanese Dog
In Summer (The Gypsy)
The Return of the Boating Party
Nini in the Garden
Alfred Sisley
In the Loge
Portrait of a Woman (Mme. Georges Hartmann)
Young Woman in a Blue and Pink Striped Shirt
Picking Flowers
The Duck Pond
At the Moulin de la Galette
Dame en Toilette de Ville
The Fairies Pond
La Grenouillere
Colonel Barton Howard Jenks
Camille Monet and Her Son Jean in the Garden at Argenteuil
Margot
Arum and Conservatory Plants
The Bridge at Chatou
Captain Edouard Bernier
Roses in a Vase
The Little Theater Box
Woman in a Garden (Woman with a Seagull)
Young Woman in a Boat (Lise Trehot)
William Sisley
The First Step
Portrait of Lucien Daudet
Young Woman with a Dog
La Grenouillere
Portrait of the Couple Sisley
Spring Flowers
Barges on the Seine
The Box
The Lovers
Madame Alphonse Daudet
A Young Woman
The Greenhouse
Nude Seated on a Sofa
Girl Gathering Flowers
Woman in a Lace Blouse
The Garden
Woman at the Garden
Madame Claude Monet
Bulrushes on the Banks of the Seine
The Pont des Arts and the Institut de France
By the Fireside
Rapha Maitre
On the Seine, Near Argenteuil
Young Woman on a Bench
Madame Marie Octavie Bernier
The Banks of the Seine
The Great Boulevards
The Dancer
Madame Chocquet Reading
Still Life with Bouquet
The Swing
Odalisque (An Algerian Woman)
The Harvesters
Mixed Flowers in an Earthware Pot
Madame Heriot en Travesti
Pensive
Landscape with Snow
A Walk in the Woods (Madame Lecoeur and Her Children)
Forest Path
Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette
Madame Darras as an Horsewoman
Victor Chocquet
Head of a Dog
Diana
The Garden at Fontenay
Young Woman at the Piano
Rapha Maitre
Flowers in a Vase
Washhouse at Lower Meudon
Summer
Child with a Hoop
Madame Victor Chocquet
A Road in Louveciennes
Laundry Boat by the Banks of the Seine, Near Paris
Claude Monet (The Reader)
Claude Monet Reading
Woman with a Parrot (Henriette Darras)
Landscape
The Artist's Studio, Rue Saint Georges
The Painter Jules Le Coeur Walking His Dogs in the Forest of Fontainebleau
Vase of Flowers
On the Path
Path Through the High Grass
Monsieur Fornaise
Bouquet in a Theater Box
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Two Sisters
Dance at Bougival
The Large Bathers
Two Young Girls at the Piano
Bathers
Quotations:
"The pain passes, but the beauty remains."
"Why shouldn't art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world."
"I've been 40 years discovering, that the queen of all colors was black."
"There are quite enough unpleasant things in life without the need to manufacture more."
"You come to nature with all your theories, and she knocks them all flat."
Pierre-Auguste married Aline Victorine Charigot, his model, in 1890. Their marriage produced three children - Pierre Renoir, an actor, Jean Renoir, a filmmaker, and Claude Renoir, who was a ceramic artist. Pierre-Auguste also was the grandfather of Claude Renoir, a filmmaker.