Pierre Auguste Renoir February 25, 1841 – December 3, 1919 The Washer-Women (1889) Oil on canvas

History of Renoir Born in France in As a young teen, he worked in a porcelain factory where he painted flower designs on fine china. In 1862, when he was 21, he studied painting formally at an academy in Paris. He became friends with Claude Monet and other artists who shared his passion for painting the outdoors, including light as a primary element in their paintings. Renoir and Monet are considered some of the founders of the Impressionist Movement.

More History… Throughout his 60-year career, he made several thousands of paintings. He continued to paint even during the last 20 years of his life when he was severely hampered by arthritis and wheel-chair bound. He painted by having a brush strapped to his paralyzed fingers. He even created sculptures, dictating to an assistant who worked the clay.

Impressionism Impressionist art is a style in which the artist captures the image of an object as someone would see it if they just caught a glimpse of it….just an “impression”. The artists like to capture images without detail but with bold colors. Impressionist artists were influenced by everyday objects like the countryside, river scenes, or people in action doing everyday things.

Renoir’s Style of Artwork His early works are paintings of real life, full of sparkling color and light. Portrait Of Lise With Umbrella (1867)

La Grenouillere (1869) – One of Renoir’s early works

Banks of the Seine at Champrosay (1876) He used freely brushed touches of color, so that his figures softly fuse with one another and their surroundings.

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. He made his figures larger and placed them closer to the picture plane. The Daughters of Catulle Mendes (1888)

After 1890, however, he changed direction again, returning to the use of thinly brushed color which dissolved outlines as in his earlier work. His paintings now were mostly of nude women and domestic scenes. He used warm flesh tones and more exotic colors. Two Girls at the Piano (1892)

One of the best known Impressionist works is Renoir's Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette) (1876). The painting depicts an open-air scene, crowded with people, at a popular dance garden close to where he lived. After Renoir died, this painting sold for $78.1 million in 1990! Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette)

Self Portrait of Pierre Auguste Renoir (1897) From his early days when he could not even afford to buy paint, to his final years in his painful condition, Renoir's paintings were thought to be always beautiful and optimistic, just like his view of life. Renoir’s famous words are: “The pain passes, but the beauty remains.” Unlike many artists, Renoir became famous in his own lifetime.