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Pierre-Auguste Renoir (/rɛnˈwɑːr/;[1] French: [pjɛʁ oɡyst ʁənwaʁ]; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. It has been said that, as a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."[2]

Key Information

He was the father of the actor Pierre Renoir (1885–1952), the filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894–1979) and the ceramic artist Claude Renoir (1901–1969). He was the grandfather of the filmmaker Claude Renoir (1913–1993), son of Pierre.

Life

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Youth

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A Box at the Theater (At the Concert), 1880, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, in 1841. His father, Léonard Renoir, was a tailor of modest means, so, in 1844, Renoir's family moved to Paris in search of more favorable prospects. The location of their home, in rue d'Argenteuil in central Paris, placed Renoir in proximity to the Louvre. Although the young Renoir had a natural proclivity for drawing, he exhibited a greater talent for singing. His talent was encouraged by his teacher, Charles Gounod, who was the choirmaster at the Church of St Roch at the time. However, due to the family's financial circumstances, Renoir had to discontinue his music lessons and leave school at the age of thirteen to pursue an apprenticeship at a porcelain factory.[3][4]

Although Renoir displayed a talent for his work, he frequently tired of the subject matter and sought refuge in the galleries of the Louvre. The owner of the factory recognized his apprentice's talent and communicated this to Renoir's family. Following this, Renoir started taking lessons to prepare for entry into Ecole des Beaux Arts. When the porcelain factory adopted mechanical reproduction processes in 1858, Renoir was forced to find other means to support his learning.[4] Before he enrolled in art school, he also painted hangings for overseas missionaries and decorations on fans.[5]

In 1862, he began studying art under Charles Gleyre in Paris. There he met Alfred Sisley, Frédéric Bazille, and Claude Monet.[6] At times, during the 1860s, he did not have enough money to buy paint. Renoir had his first success at the Salon of 1868 with his painting Lise with a Parasol (1867), which depicted Lise Tréhot, his lover at the time.[7] Although Renoir first started exhibiting paintings at the Paris Salon in 1864,[8] recognition was slow in coming, partly as a result of the turmoil of the Franco-Prussian War.

During the Paris Commune in 1871, while Renoir painted on the banks of the Seine River, some Communards thought he was a spy and were about to throw him into the river, when a leader of the Commune, Raoul Rigault, recognized Renoir as the man who had protected him on an earlier occasion.[9] In 1874, a ten-year friendship with Jules Le Cœur and his family ended,[10] and Renoir lost not only the valuable support gained by the association but also a generous welcome to stay on their property near Fontainebleau and its scenic forest. This loss of a favorite painting location resulted in a distinct change of subjects.

Adulthood

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Renoir was inspired by the style and subject matter of the previous modern painters Camille Pissarro and Édouard Manet.[11] After a series of rejections by the Salon juries, he joined forces with Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, and several other artists to mount the First Impressionist Exhibition in April 1874, in which Renoir displayed six paintings. Although the critical response to the exhibition was largely unfavorable, Renoir's work was comparatively well received.[7] That same year, two of his works were shown with Paul Durand-Ruel in London.[10]

The Swing (La Balançoire), 1876, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Hoping to secure a livelihood by attracting portrait commissions, Renoir displayed mostly portraits at the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876.[12] He contributed a more diverse range of paintings the next year when the group presented its third exhibition; they included Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette and The Swing.[12] Renoir did not exhibit in the fourth or fifth Impressionist exhibitions, and instead resumed submitting his works to the Salon. By the end of the 1870s, particularly after the success of his painting Mme Charpentier and her Children (1878) at the Salon of 1879, Renoir was a successful and fashionable painter.[7] It was also in 1879 that he met the man who was soon to become his main patron, Paul Bérard [fr], who regularly invited him to paint and enjoy the Normandy seaside at the Château de Wargemont. [fr]

Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Bal du moulin de la Galette), 1876, Musée d'Orsay

In 1881, he traveled to Algeria, a country he associated with Eugène Delacroix,[13] then to Madrid, to see the work of Diego Velázquez. Following that, he traveled to Italy to see Titian's masterpieces in Florence and the paintings of Raphael in Rome. On 15 January 1882, Renoir met the composer Richard Wagner at his home in Palermo, Sicily. Renoir painted Wagner's portrait in just thirty-five minutes. In the same year, after contracting pneumonia which permanently damaged his respiratory system, Renoir convalesced for six weeks in Algeria.[14]

In 1883, Renoir spent the summer in Guernsey, one of the islands in the English Channel with a varied landscape of beaches, cliffs, and bays, where he created fifteen paintings in little over a month. Most of these feature Moulin Huet, a bay in Saint Martin's, Guernsey. These paintings were the subject of a set of commemorative postage stamps issued by the Bailiwick of Guernsey in 1983. While living and working in Montmartre, Renoir employed Suzanne Valadon as a model, who posed for him (The Large Bathers, 1884–1887; Dance at Bougival, 1883)[15] and many of his fellow painters; during that time, she studied their techniques and eventually became one of the leading painters of the day. In 1887, the year when Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee, and upon the request of the queen's associate, Phillip Richbourg, Renoir donated several paintings to the "French Impressionist Paintings" catalog as a token of his loyalty.

Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880–1881

In 1890, he married Aline Victorine Charigot, a dressmaker twenty years his junior,[16] who, along with a number of the artist's friends, had already served as a model for Le Déjeuner des canotiers (Luncheon of the Boating Party; she is the woman on the left playing with the dog) in 1881, and with whom he had already had a child, Pierre, in 1885.[14] After marrying, Renoir painted many scenes of his wife and daily family life including their children and their nurse, Aline's cousin Gabrielle Renard. The Renoirs had three sons: Pierre Renoir (1885–1952), who became a stage and film actor; Jean Renoir (1894–1979), who became a filmmaker of note; and Claude Renoir (1901–1969), who became a ceramic artist.

Later years

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir, c. 1910

Around 1892, Renoir developed rheumatoid arthritis. In 1907, he moved to the warmer climate of "Les Collettes", a farm at the village of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, close to the Mediterranean coast.[17] Renoir painted during the last twenty years of his life even after his arthritis severely limited his mobility. He developed progressive deformities in his hands and ankylosis of his right shoulder, requiring him to change his painting technique. It has often been reported that in the advanced stages of his arthritis, he painted by having a brush strapped to his paralyzed fingers,[18] but this is erroneous; Renoir remained able to grasp a brush, although he required an assistant to place it in his hand.[19] The wrapping of his hands with bandages, apparent in late photographs of the artist, served to prevent skin irritation.[19]

In 1919, Renoir visited the Louvre to see his paintings hanging with those of the old masters. During this period, he created sculptures by cooperating with a young artist, Richard Guino, who worked the clay. Due to his limited joint mobility, Renoir also used a moving canvas, or picture roll, to facilitate painting large works.[19]

Renoir's portrait of the Austrian actress Tilla Durieux (1914) contains playful flecks of vibrant color on her shawl that offset the classical pose of the actress and highlight Renoir's skill just five years before his death.

Renoir died in Cagnes-sur-Mer on 3 December 1919 at the age of 78.[20]

Family legacy

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Renoir's great-grandson, Alexandre Renoir, has also become a professional artist. In 2018, the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville, Tennessee, United States, hosted Beauty Remains, an exhibition of his works. The exhibition title comes from a famous quotation by Renoir who, when asked why he continued to paint with his painful arthritis in his advanced years, replied "The pain passes, but the beauty remains."[21]

Artworks

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Two Sisters (On the Terrace), oil on canvas, 1881, Art Institute of Chicago

Renoir's paintings are notable for their vibrant light and saturated color, most often focusing on people in intimate and candid compositions. The female nude was one of his primary subjects. However, in 1876, a reviewer in Le Figaro wrote "Try to explain to Monsieur Renoir that a woman's torso is not a mass of decomposing flesh with those purplish green stains that denote a state of complete putrefaction in a corpse."[22] Yet in characteristic Impressionist style, Renoir suggested the details of a scene through freely brushed touches of colour, so that his figures softly fuse with one another and their surroundings.

Portrait of Irène Cahen d'Anvers (La Petite Irène), 1880, Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zürich[23]

His initial paintings show the influence of the colorism of Eugène Delacroix and the luminosity of Camille Corot. He also admired the realism of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet, and his early work resembles theirs in his use of black as a color. Renoir admired Edgar Degas' sense of movement. Other painters Renoir greatly admired were the 18th-century masters François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard.[24]

A fine example of Renoir's early work and evidence of the influence of Courbet's realism, is Diana, 1867. Ostensibly a mythological subject, the painting is a naturalistic studio work; the figure carefully observed, solidly modeled and superimposed upon a contrived landscape. If the work is a "student" piece, Renoir's heightened personal response to female sensuality is present. The model was Lise Tréhot, the artist's mistress at that time, and inspiration for a number of paintings.[25]

In the late 1860s, through the practice of painting light and water en plein air (outdoors), he and his friend Claude Monet discovered that the color of shadows is not brown or black, but the reflected color of the objects surrounding them, an effect known today as diffuse reflection. Several pairs of paintings exist in which Renoir and Monet worked side-by-side, depicting the same scenes (La Grenouillère, 1869).

One of the best-known Impressionist works is Renoir's 1876 Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Bal du moulin de la Galette). The painting depicts an open-air scene, crowded with people at a popular dance garden on the Butte Montmartre close to where he lived. The works of his early maturity were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light.

One of a series, Blonde Bather (1881), marked a distinct change in style following a trip to Italy. The work is part of the permanent collection of the Clark Art Institute.

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. It was a trip to Italy in 1881 when he saw works by Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, and other Renaissance masters, that convinced him that he was on the wrong path. At that point he declared, "I had gone as far as I could with Impressionism and I realized I could neither paint nor draw".[26]

For the next several years he painted in a more severe style in an attempt to return to classicism.[27] Concentrating on his drawing and emphasizing the outlines of figures, he painted works such as Blonde Bather (1881 and 1882) and The Large Bathers (1884–1887; Philadelphia Museum of Art) during what is sometimes referred to as his "Ingres period".[28]

Girls at the Piano, 1892, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

After 1890 he changed direction again. To dissolve outlines, as in his earlier work, he returned to thinly brushed color.

From this period onward he concentrated on monumental nudes and domestic scenes, fine examples of which are Girls at the Piano, 1892, and Grandes Baigneuses, 1887. The latter painting is the most typical and successful of Renoir's late, abundantly fleshed nudes.[29]

A prolific artist, he created several thousand paintings. The warm sensuality of Renoir's style made his paintings some of the most well-known and frequently reproduced works in the history of art. The single largest collection of his works—181 paintings in all—is at the Barnes Foundation, in Philadelphia, United States.

Catalogue raisonné

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A five-volume catalogue raisonné of Renoir's works (with one supplement) was published by Bernheim-Jeune between 1983 and 2014.[30] Bernheim-Jeune is the only surviving major art dealer that was used by Renoir. The Wildenstein Institute is preparing, but has not yet published, a critical catalogue of Renoir's work.[31] A disagreement between these two organizations concerning an unsigned work in Picton Castle was at the centre of the second episode of the fourth season of the television series Fake or Fortune.

Posthumous prints

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In 1919, Ambroise Vollard, a renowned art dealer, published a book on the life and work of Renoir, La Vie et l'Œuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in an edition of 1000 copies. In 1986, Vollard's heirs started reprinting the copper plates, generally, etchings with hand applied watercolor. These prints are signed by Renoir in the plate and are embossed "Vollard" in the lower margin. They are not numbered, dated or signed in pencil.

Posthumous sales

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A small version of Bal du moulin de la Galette sold for $78.1 million 17 May 1990 at Sotheby's New York.[32]

In 2012, Renoir's Paysage Bords de Seine was offered for sale at auction but the painting was discovered to have been stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art in 1951. The sale was cancelled.

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Portraits and landscapes

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Self-portraits

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Nudes

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Interactive image

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Renoir - Boating PartyAdrien Maggiolo (Italian journalist)Affenpinscher dogAline Charigot (seamstress and Renoir's future wife)Alphonse Fournaise, Jr. (owner's son)Angèle Legault (actress)Charles Ephrussi (art historian)Ellen Andrée (actress)Eugène Pierre Lestringez (bureaucrat)Gustave Caillebotte (artist)Jeanne Samary (actress)Jules Laforgue (poet and critic)LandscapeLandscapeLouise-Alphonsine Fournaise (owner's daughter)Paul Lhote (artist)Baron Raoul Barbier (former mayor of colonial Saigon)SailboatsStill lifeunknown person
The image above contains clickable linksClickable image of the Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.). Place your mouse cursor over a person in the painting to see their name; click to link to an article about them.

Close-ups

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Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881) - Details of the Women
Aline Charigot
Angèle Legault
Louise-Alphonsine Fournaise
Ellen Andrée
Jeanne Samary
Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881) - Details of the Men
Alphonse Fournaise Jr.
Pierre Lestringuèz
Paul Lhôte
Jules Laforgue
Antonio Maggiolo
Gustave Caillebotte
Charles Ephrussi
Raoul Barbier

See also

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References

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Further reading

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was a leading French painter and a founding figure of the movement, renowned for his vibrant depictions of everyday life, particularly scenes featuring women, children, and leisurely outdoor activities bathed in warm light and rich color. Born on February 25, 1841, in to a working-class family, Renoir moved to as a child and began his artistic training as a porcelain painter before studying at the studio of Charles Gleyre in the early , where he met fellow future Impressionists , , and . His early works embraced the loose brushwork and emphasis on light effects characteristic of Impressionism, as seen in collaborative plein-air paintings with Monet at sites like in 1869. Renoir's career evolved through distinct phases, beginning with participation in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1874, 1876, 1877, and 1882, where he showcased innovative landscapes and genre scenes that captured fleeting moments of modern Parisian life. Iconic masterpieces from this period include Dance at the Moulin de la Galette (1876), a joyful portrayal of dancers in a sun-dappled , and Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881), which celebrates camaraderie and sensuality among friends by the . In the 1880s, following a in 1881, Renoir shifted toward a more structured, classical style influenced by masters like and , evident in works such as The Umbrellas (c. 1881–1886), where he balanced Impressionist color with firmer contours and sculptural forms. Later in life, afflicted by severe from the 1890s onward, he settled in in , producing monumental nudes and still lifes with a renewed focus on volume and sensuous flesh tones, often executed with the aid of assistants. Renoir's enduring legacy lies in his optimistic celebration of beauty and human connection, influencing subsequent generations of artists including and , while his technical innovations in capturing the luminosity of skin and atmosphere solidified his status as one of the most beloved painters of the . Despite initial critical resistance to , he received the Légion d'Honneur in 1900 and continued creating until his death on December 3, 1919, leaving a prolific oeuvre of over 4,000 paintings that embody the movement's revolutionary spirit.

Early Life

Childhood and Family

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on February 25, 1841, in , , the sixth of seven children in a working-class family of artisans. His father, Léonard Renoir, worked as a , while his mother, Marguerite Merlet, was a seamstress whose income supplemented the household amid modest means. In 1845, when Renoir was four years old, the family relocated to in pursuit of better economic prospects, settling in the vibrant Pigalle neighborhood of . This move placed them in a lively, bohemian area teeming with artists and everyday folk, though the household remained marked by financial constraints typical of 19th-century urban working families. The siblings shared close quarters in their small apartment, fostering a sense of resilience amid the challenges of limited resources. From a young age, Renoir showed an aptitude for drawing, sketching simple scenes with available materials during his childhood in both and . His early surroundings, including local churches with their decorative and the folk crafts of the porcelain-rich region, provided initial sparks of artistic inspiration, nurturing his fascination with color and form long before formal training. These humble beginnings and family dynamics later shaped his enduring focus on joyful depictions of ordinary life.

Education and Apprenticeship

At the age of thirteen in 1854, Renoir was apprenticed at the Lévy brothers' porcelain factory in , where he painted floral designs on , an experience that cultivated his early sensitivity to color and form. This practical training provided him with foundational skills in decorative painting while supplementing his family's modest income during economic hardships. To sustain himself, Renoir took on various commissions, including fans, window blinds, and religious images intended for church hangings, which allowed him to apply his burgeoning techniques to diverse surfaces and subjects. These early professional endeavors, often executed in or , bridged his work with more ambitious artistic pursuits and demonstrated his versatility before transitioning to around 1862. In 1861, Renoir began formal studies by attending drawing classes under Swiss artist Charles Gleyre in , a pivotal step that prepared him for advanced training. The following year, in 1862, he was admitted to the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, though much of his instruction continued in Gleyre's private atelier, emphasizing life drawing and classical composition. It was in Gleyre's studio that Renoir formed lasting friendships with fellow students , , and by the end of 1863, connections that would profoundly influence his artistic development.

Artistic Development

Impressionist Beginnings

In 1862, Pierre-Auguste Renoir enrolled at the studio of Swiss painter Charles Gleyre in , where he met fellow students , Frédéric Bazille, and , forming the core of what would become the Impressionist group. These early collaborations fostered a shared interest in painting directly from nature, departing from the rigid academic traditions they encountered in their training. When Gleyre's studio closed in 1864 due to financial difficulties, Renoir, Sisley, Bazille, and Monet relocated temporarily to the , approximately 60 kilometers southeast of , to pursue sessions that emphasized capturing the transient effects of light and atmosphere in the landscape. Renoir's immersion in the emerging Impressionist circle deepened through regular gatherings at the Café Guerbois in starting around 1866, where he engaged in lively discussions with Monet, , , and the influential Édouard Manet. Manet, whose bold compositions and modern subjects challenged conventional salon standards, profoundly impacted Renoir, encouraging him to explore contemporary urban life rather than historical or mythological themes. These interactions solidified Renoir's commitment to the group's principles of spontaneity and direct observation. During this formative period in the and , Renoir's subjects shifted from the precise, academic realism of his initial works to vibrant depictions of urban scenes, intimate of friends, and bathers, rendered with increasingly loose brushwork that prioritized the play of over detailed contours. This evolution was evident in his contributions to the first independent Impressionist exhibition, held from April 15 to May 15, 1874, at the studio of photographer on Boulevard des Capucines in , organized by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, and others to bypass the official Salon's rejection of their innovative styles. Renoir displayed several works, including La Parisienne (also known as The Parisian Woman), a of Henriette Henriot embodying modern Parisian elegance. The exhibition drew around 3,500 visitors but faced significant critical backlash, with reviewers like in Le Charivari deriding the group's loose techniques as unfinished and incoherent, coining the derisive term "Impressionists" from Monet's . Despite the hostility, some critics, such as Philippe Burty in La République, acknowledged Renoir's skillful rendering of light and form, highlighting the exhibition's role in launching the movement.

Evolution of Style

In the early 1880s, Renoir experienced a profound artistic , prompting a temporary departure from the loose brushwork and vibrant light effects of toward a more structured, Ingresque style characterized by precise line work, cooler tones, and sculptural figures. This shift was exemplified in works like The Umbrellas (1881), where figures appear more solid and defined against a rainy Parisian backdrop, blending residual Impressionist elements with classical clarity. This evolution was catalyzed by Renoir's in 1880–1881, during which he studied masters such as , whose balanced compositions and idealized forms inspired a renewed emphasis on and form over fleeting atmospheric effects. Returning to France, in the mid-1880s Renoir's work was marked by warmer, earthier colors and fuller, more voluptuous figures that conveyed a greater sense of volume and sensuality, further from artists like and . By the , Renoir refined his technique, including through the use of synthetic pigments for richer, more stable colors, and serial methods, where he produced multiple versions of compositions to explore variations in pose and light. This approach shifted his focus from Impressionism's transient effects to an enduring celebration of sensuality and three-dimensional form, as seen in repeated motifs of bathers and nudes that prioritized tactile richness. Influences from Paul Cézanne's emphasis on structural solidity and Japanese prints' decorative patterns further shaped Renoir's work, leading to a transition by 1900 toward more classical, monumental compositions with grand, Rubensian figures integrated into harmonious landscapes. This late phase culminated in a robust, timeless aesthetic that affirmed Renoir's commitment to beauty and human warmth.

Major Works

Early and Impressionist Paintings

Renoir's early painting Lise with a Parasol (1867), also known as Lise (Woman with Umbrella), exemplifies his initial adherence to academic portraiture traditions while hinting at emerging Impressionist interests in light and fashion. The full-length oil-on-canvas portrait depicts his then-companion, the model Tréhot, posed in a forest setting wearing a white muslin dress and holding a black lace parasol to shield from the sun, measuring 184 × 115 cm and housed at the Museum Folkwang in , . This work, accepted at the Salon in 1868, marked Renoir's first significant recognition and reflects the influence of classical posing and tropes, such as rendering the subject akin to a mythological figure like Diana, combined with contemporary fashion details like the crinoline skirt and outdoor naturalism. The painting's balanced composition and soft modeling demonstrate Renoir's studio training under Charles Gleyre, prioritizing structured form over fleeting effects, yet the dappled sunlight filtering through trees foreshadows his later experiments with atmospheric light. In the late 1860s and throughout the , Renoir explored themes of the female nude and bathers in outdoor settings, drawing from academic and Realist precedents while infusing Impressionist vitality through techniques. This series, including pieces like Bather with a Griffon (), shifted from studio-bound academic idealization to dynamic, light-drenched scenes of women bathing or reclining by streams, highlighting the interplay of skin tones with sunlight and foliage to convey warmth and vitality. Renoir's innovations here lay in applying broken brushstrokes to render the effects of diffused outdoor light on bare flesh, prioritizing sensory pleasure and the harmony between human figures and nature over narrative depth, as seen in the fluid poses and vibrant palette that evoke leisure and in everyday environments. Renoir's peak Impressionist phase produced Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (1876), a landmark oil-on-canvas measuring 131 × 175 cm, now at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, which captures the joyous social milieu of Parisian working-class leisure at the Moulin de la Galette dance garden in Montmartre. The composition innovates by integrating multiple figures in a bustling outdoor scene, with couples dancing under chestnut trees where sunlight filters through leaves to create dappled patterns on faces, clothing, and the ground, achieved through Renoir's signature loose, vibrant brushwork that blends warm oranges, blues, and greens to evoke movement and transience. This work exemplifies Impressionist themes of modernity and everyday celebration, eschewing stiff poses for candid interactions that convey rhythm and communal happiness, while the innovative use of reflected light on skin and fabrics heightens the sense of immediacy and optical realism. By the early 1880s, Renoir synthesized his style in Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880–1881), an expansive oil-on-canvas (130.2 × 175.6 cm) at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., depicting a group of friends relaxing on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise restaurant along the Seine. The complex composition masterfully blends intimate portraiture—featuring identifiable sitters like Aline Charigot (Renoir's future wife) and Gustave Caillebotte—with panoramic landscape views of the river and foliage, structured in a subtle pyramidal arrangement that unifies the foreground figures, still-life elements like wine glasses, and background vista. Employing the broken color technique, Renoir applies short, juxtaposed strokes of pure hue to capture the play of sunlight through the awning and on the water, rendering reflections and shadows with luminous intensity that emphasizes themes of camaraderie and the fleeting beauty of bourgeois leisure. This painting innovates within Impressionism by balancing spontaneity with deliberate harmony, using varied brushwork to differentiate textures—from the crisp whites of tablecloths to the soft modeling of faces—while portraying "every man" in a moment of universal relaxation.

Later Paintings and Sculptures

In his later years, Renoir turned to large-scale mythological subjects, as seen in the The Judgment of Paris (c. 1913–1914), a canvas measuring 73 × 92.5 cm that depicts the classical scene with voluptuous, volumetric female figures rendered in rich, warm colors emphasizing sensuality and form over narrative detail. This work, housed in the Hiroshima Museum of Art, exemplifies Renoir's mature fascination with Renaissance-inspired nudes and his shift toward a more sculptural treatment of the body. Renoir's intimate family portraits from the to , particularly the Gabrielle and Jean series, capture tender domestic moments featuring his housekeeper and model Gabrielle Renard with his son Jean, portrayed with soft, luminous skin tones and a gentle, rounded modeling that conveys emotional warmth and everyday harmony. These oils, such as Gabrielle and Jean (c. 1895–1896), highlight Renoir's emphasis on familial bonds and the tactile quality of flesh, using diffused light to create an aura of serenity. From 1913 onward, despite severe that limited his mobility, Renoir collaborated with sculptor and young assistant Richard Guino to produce over 50 sculptures, adapting his techniques—such as fluid contours and vibrant modeling—to clay and forms that evoke with modern sensuality. Notable among these is Venus Victorious (1914–1916), a over life-size (approximately 183 × 106 × 81 cm) depicting a triumphant female nude in a dynamic pose, its smooth surfaces and exaggerated curves reflecting Renoir's vision of feminine vitality translated into three dimensions. In his final paintings, such as Landscape with River (1917), Renoir simplified forms into broad, abstracted masses of color, focusing on the rhythmic flow of landscapes under diffused light, a stylistic adaptation necessitated by his physical constraints from advancing . This , with its reduced detail and emphasis on tonal , marks Renoir's late experimentation with essentialized , prioritizing emotional resonance over precise observation.

Personal Life

Relationships and Marriage

Renoir's first significant romantic relationship was with Lise Tréhot, whom he met in 1865 while painting in the Fontainebleau forest. Tréhot served as his companion and primary model for seven years, appearing in over 20 paintings, including Lise with a Parasol (1866) and Woman Reading (1870), where she depicted nearly all of his female figures during this period. Their relationship ended in 1872; Tréhot later married Georges Brière de l'Isle on June 21, 1883. There are unconfirmed reports that Tréhot gave birth to two of Renoir's children during their relationship—a son who died in infancy and a daughter named Jeanne Marguérite Tréhot, who may have been adopted and later took her stepfather's surname—though neither acknowledged any offspring publicly. In the early 1880s, Renoir began an affair with Aline Charigot, a 20-year-old seamstress he encountered at a , who was 18 years his junior. Charigot quickly became one of his favorite models, featuring prominently in works such as The Umbrellas (1881–1886), where she appears as the woman with the child, and Blonde Bather (1882). The couple married on April 14, 1890, following the birth of their first son, Pierre, in 1885, at a time when Charigot was pregnant with their second child. Renoir formed close friendships with fellow artists that shaped his personal and professional life, including lifelong bonds with , whom he met in 1862 at Charles Gleyre's studio and later shared living spaces with during their early struggles. He and often painted together, as seen in their parallel views of in 1869. Renoir also maintained a strong connection with , another Gleyre student, engaging in mutual artistic critiques that influenced their respective developments. His social circle extended to influential supporters, such as and Georges Rivière, a close friend from the 1870s who championed Renoir's work and later wrote his biography, Renoir et ses amis (1921). Renoir also interacted with writer , a defender of the Impressionists, for whom he provided illustrations for the novel (1877). Among collectors, Victor Chocquet, a official and avid patron, commissioned portraits from Renoir and acquired his works, fostering early recognition.

Family and Home Life

Renoir and his wife, Aline Charigot, had three sons who frequently served as models in his paintings, capturing the warmth of family life. Their eldest son, Pierre, born in 1885, became a stage and film actor and appeared in works such as The Artist's Family (1896), where he is depicted holding his mother's arm. The second son, Jean, born in 1894, later distinguished himself as a filmmaker and posed for portraits like Jean Renoir Sewing (1899–1900), showing him absorbed in a domestic task with his long, golden hair highlighted by the light, and Jean as a Huntsman (1910). The youngest, Claude—affectionately nicknamed "Coco"—was born in 1901 and served as a soldier; he featured prominently as a model in paintings and lithographs, including Claude Renoir, Son, Turned to the Left (about 1904), where his youthful curiosity is evident. In 1907, Renoir purchased the estate of Les Collettes in , a rural property near the Mediterranean coast surrounded by olive groves and gardens, to which the family relocated in autumn 1908 for a milder . This serene retreat became a central setting for family portraits and scenes of domestic tranquility, with the lush landscape inspiring works that blended household intimacy with natural beauty. The estate fostered a close-knit environment where Renoir painted his sons and household members amid the property's verdant surroundings, emphasizing harmony and everyday joys. Aline Charigot died in June 1915 from , a condition she had developed after Claude's birth and concealed from her husband. Renoir was deeply grieved by her loss, yet his sons remained actively involved in his studio life at Les Collettes, assisting with his work and continuing to model as he persisted in creating despite his own health struggles. Renoir's art often highlighted domestic themes, particularly maternal figures and children, reflecting the nurturing aspects of his home life; Aline frequently appeared as a central, tender presence in these compositions. Representative examples include The Artist's Family (1896), portraying Aline with her sons in a moment of affectionate unity, and earlier works from the evoking familial serenity, such as scenes of women with parasols in garden settings that symbolize protective, everyday elegance.

Health Challenges

Onset of Rheumatism

In 1892, at the age of 51, Pierre-Auguste Renoir began experiencing the first symptoms of , characterized by joint pain and stiffness primarily in his hands and arms. These early manifestations were initially overlooked or not fully diagnosed as the progressive they represented, but by 1894, the condition had advanced to severe , with noticeable swelling in the metacarpophalangeal joints and increasing limitation in mobility. The illness gradually deformed his fingers, thumbs turning inward, and caused in his wrists, shoulders, and knees, marking the onset of a lifelong struggle that profoundly altered his physical capabilities. To alleviate the escalating pain and inflammation, Renoir pursued a range of contemporary treatments, including regular visits to thermal spas like for mineral baths believed to ease joint symptoms, alongside oral administration of antipyrine, an early similar to aspirin. He also incorporated physical exercise—such as walking, , and playing billiards—under the guidance of physicians like Dr. , in hopes of maintaining joint function. By the early 1900s, as the disease worsened, he relocated to warmer climates in for symptomatic relief, though no curative options existed at the time. The significantly impaired Renoir's mobility, compelling him to rely on a around 1912 to navigate his studio and home, as his legs weakened and deformities set in. To sustain his painting practice, he devised practical adaptations, such as positioning brushes within his clenched, deformed hands and using a rotating that allowed minimal arm movement, often with assistance from his son Claude in preparing palettes and canvases. These modifications enabled him to continue creating despite the physical constraints, though the effort was arduous. Psychologically, the relentless elicited in Renoir's personal correspondence, where he lamented the interference with his artistic flow and daily routines. Yet, his determination remained unyielding; he viewed painting as an essential outlet, famously remarking, "The passes, but the beauty remains," a sentiment that underscored his resolve to prioritize creative expression over suffering. This mindset not only sustained his productivity but also influenced a shift toward more introspective, studio-based techniques in his later career.

Final Years and Death

In 1907, Renoir purchased the property known as Les Collettes, a farm in on the , seeking the region's milder climate to alleviate his ongoing . In autumn 1908, he had relocated there full-time with his family, establishing a spacious studio where he could continue despite his worsening physical condition. Assistants, including the young sculptor Richard Guino, provided crucial support by handling materials and executing tasks beyond Renoir's reach, such as binding brushes to his deformed hands and positioning canvases. Throughout his final decade, Renoir's productivity remained remarkable, focusing on luminous nudes and landscapes inspired by classical masters like and . His last major work, Les Baigneuses (The Bathers), completed between 1918 and 1919, depicts three women in a sunlit garden at Les Collettes, embodying his lifelong celebration of sensuality and form with vibrant colors and fluid brushwork; he finished it just days before his death. This painting, now housed at the , stands as a testament to his unyielding passion for art amid physical decline. Renoir died on December 3, 1919, at Les Collettes from , at the age of 78. Following his wishes, he was buried in the of Essoyes, the hometown of his late wife Aline, where a simple grave marks his resting place alongside family members. His passing drew tributes from the art world, with close associates including , who had visited frequently in his final months, honoring his legacy; the funeral in was attended by family and fellow artists. The estate, comprising over 800 unfinished or unsold paintings from his studio, was divided equally among his three sons—, Jean, and Claude—each receiving several hundred works to preserve and manage.

Legacy and Influence

Critical Reception

In the 1870s, Renoir's association with the movement drew sharp criticism from established art critics, who dismissed his and his peers' works as unfinished sketches lacking technical rigor and finish. , in his scathing review of the 1874 exhibition, lambasted the group's paintings for their loose brushwork and apparent incompleteness, coining the term "" derisively to highlight what he saw as superficiality over substance. This mockery extended to Renoir specifically, with reviewers portraying his vibrant depictions of modern life, such as Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (1876), as hasty and undigested, unfit for the Salon tradition. Such sentiments prevailed through the decade, marginalizing artists and limiting their public acceptance. By the late 1880s, however, Renoir's reputation began to shift positively, as evidenced by growing appreciation for the sensuous quality of his figures and colors. Critic , in a preface to a 1913 monograph on Renoir, lauded the artist's ability to infuse paintings with a palpable vitality and erotic warmth, particularly in works like the bathers series, marking a departure from earlier disdain toward recognition of his innovative sensuality. This evolving praise culminated in tangible success at the 1892 exhibition organized by dealer , where Renoir's was acquired by the Musée du Luxembourg—the first Impressionist work to enter a French public collection—signaling institutional validation and broader critical acclaim. Into the early 1900s, Renoir faced renewed controversies amid his rising commercial success, with detractors accusing him of pandering to market demands through repetitive motifs of voluptuous female figures. Critics like those reviewing his 1900 Bernheim-Jeune exhibition implied a dilution of artistic integrity for popularity, especially as American collectors drove up prices for his softer, more formulaic late-style nudes. Following his death in 1919, feminist critiques emerged in the and beyond, targeting Renoir's portrayals of women as idealized objects of male desire, reducing complex subjects to passive embodiments of sensuality in pieces like The Bathers (1918–1919). Throughout his career, Renoir's sales remained modest in the , often struggling to cover living expenses despite support from Durand-Ruel, but boomed in the with increased demand from international buyers. By the , partnerships with galleries like Bernheim-Jeune, starting with exhibitions in 1900, elevated his market status, with key patrons such as the American collector Duncan Phillips acquiring works that underscored his transition from fringe innovator to established master.

Posthumous Recognition

Following Renoir's death in 1919, his work received significant posthumous acclaim through major institutional exhibitions that highlighted his contributions to and beyond. A key retrospective, Exposition Renoir 1841–1919, was held at the in from February 15 to April 10, 1933, showcasing over 100 works from public and private collections to affirm his place in history. This event, organized under the auspices of the French state, drew large crowds and emphasized Renoir's from early realist influences to his later monumental nudes and landscapes. The centenary of Impressionism in 1974 further elevated Renoir's legacy with the exhibition Centenaire de l'Impressionnisme at the Grand Palais in Paris, running from September 21 to November 24, 1974. Featuring around 400 works, including 40 by Renoir such as Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, it celebrated the movement's origins while underscoring Renoir's role in capturing modern leisure and light. More recently, exhibitions have reexamined his oeuvre through contemporary lenses; for instance, Renoir and Love at the National Gallery in London (3 October 2026 to 31 January 2027) will explore themes of romance, intimacy, and gender roles in his depictions of women, challenging traditional stereotypes while highlighting his sensual portrayals of female figures. Similarly, Matisse & Renoir: New Encounters at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia (June 23 to September 8, 2024) juxtaposed Renoir's works with Matisse's to illuminate shared motifs of joy and form, drawing over 100,000 visitors. Renoir's paintings are prominently featured in major museum collections worldwide, ensuring his enduring institutional presence. The in holds the largest assembly, with 181 works spanning his career, from Impressionist scenes to late bathers, acquired by founder who regarded Renoir as a pinnacle of . The in owns key pieces like Bal du (1876), alongside approximately 60 other paintings that anchor its Impressionist holdings. The in New York includes significant examples such as By the Seashore (1883) and Two Young Girls at the Piano (1892), totaling over 20 works that illustrate his technical mastery of light and texture. Renoir's family extended his cultural influence across generations. His second son, Jean Renoir (1894–1979), became a renowned filmmaker whose works, including A Day in the Country (1936) and The Rules of the Game (1939), echoed his father's aesthetic emphasis on natural light, fluid movement, and human warmth, as explored in exhibitions like Renoir: Father and Son / Painting and Cinema at the Barnes Foundation in 2018. The youngest son, Claude Renoir (1901–1969), known as "Coco," contributed as a ceramicist, creating pieces inspired by his father's motifs, while his grandson Claude Renoir (1914–1993), a cinematographer, carried forward the family's artistic lineage through films like The Wages of Fear (1953), though family narratives also highlight wartime service among descendants, such as paratrooper Alain Renoir (1921–2008), underscoring their heroism in World War II. Renoir's market value reflects his sustained popularity, with works commanding premium prices at auction. A landmark sale occurred in 1990 when Bal du moulin de la Galette fetched $78.1 million at Sotheby's New York, setting a record for an Impressionist painting at the time. Recent transactions continue this trend; for example, Dans les Roses (Madame Léon Clapisson) (c. 1882) sold for $24.4 million at Christie's New York in May 2022, while La Promenade (1875) achieved £9.4 million at Christie's in 2020, demonstrating robust demand for his vibrant, intimate scenes. In 2025, the Morgan Library & Museum presented Renoir Drawings (October 22, 2025 – January 12, 2026), the first major U.S. show of his works on paper since 1921, while a rare portrait of his son Jean sold at auction in Paris on November 25, 2025.

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