Pierre-Auguste Renoir
The Impressionist of joie de vivre.
Renoir painted people dancing, eating and socialising in sunlight. Later his figures became rounder and more classical.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in 1841 in Limoges. His father was a tailor, and the family moved to Paris when he was small. At thirteen he became an apprentice to a porcelain painter, painting flowers on plates and cups. There he learned a light, shimmering technique. In 1862 he entered Charles Gleyre’s studio and became friends with Monet, Sisley and Bazille.
In the late 1860s Renoir and Monet painted side by side at the bathing spot La Grenouillère on the Seine, and together they developed the rapid style of Impressionism. Renoir took part in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. His best-known work is Bal du moulin de la Galette (1876) in the Musée d'Orsay, in which people dance and talk in sunlight filtering through the trees. Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880–81) is in the Phillips Collection in Washington.
Renoir wanted art to be beautiful and joyful. He painted people socialising, women, children, flowers and nudes in a warm, shimmering light. After a journey to Italy in 1881–82, where he saw Raphael, he felt that Impressionism was too loose. He began to draw sharper contours, and his figures became more classical. The Large Bathers (1884–87) in the Philadelphia Museum of Art shows this style. Later his figures grew rounder and his colours warmer.
In 1890 he married Aline Charigot, who had modelled for Luncheon of the Boating Party. They had three sons. Pierre became an actor and Jean one of France’s greatest film directors. From the 1890s Renoir suffered from severe rheumatism. He moved to Cagnes-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean and went on painting even though his hands were deformed, with the brush wedged between his fingers.
Renoir died in 1919. By then he had become one of the most famous artists of his time. His late works influenced both Matisse and Picasso, and today he is one of the best-loved painters of Impressionism.