Auguste Renoir
Painter · France
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was a French Impressionist painter known for joyful scenes of Parisian life like Bal du moulin de la Galette. He kept painting despite severe arthritis until his death, leaving several thousand works.
**Early life and training**
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on 25 February 1841 in Limoges, France. His father was a tailor and his mother a seamstress. The family moved to Paris when he was about three and settled near the Louvre. At 13 he was apprenticed as a porcelain painter, decorating plates and vases with flowers and portraits. Mechanized printing soon made that trade obsolete, so he painted fans, blinds, and decorative panels while copying the old masters at the Louvre in his spare time.
In 1862 Renoir entered the École des Beaux-Arts and the studio of the Swiss painter Charles Gleyre. There he met Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, the friends who would help shape a new way of painting. His early work was influenced by Courbet, Delacroix, and the Rococo painters he admired, especially Fragonard and Boucher. He had his first acceptance at the official Salon in 1864, and he gained notice with *Lise with a Parasol* (1867), which featured his companion and model Lise Tréhot.
**The birth of Impressionism**
Renoir was often poor in these years. In 1869 he painted alongside Monet at La Grenouillère, a bathing spot on the Seine. There the two developed the broken brushwork and attention to shimmering light and reflection that became central to Impressionism. His career was interrupted in 1870 by the Franco-Prussian War, during which he served in a cavalry regiment and fell seriously ill with dysentery.
In 1874 he joined Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Sisley, Morisot, and others in the first independent group exhibition, the show that gave the "Impressionists" their name. He exhibited *La Loge* there. Over the following years he produced his most celebrated Impressionist works, most famously *Bal du moulin de la Galette* (1876, Musée d'Orsay), a crowded open-air dance in Montmartre alive with dappled sunlight. Renoir's focus set him apart from Monet. Where Monet cared mostly about landscape and light, Renoir cared most about people: faces, skin, social pleasure, and the warmth of everyday gatherings.
**Success and the portrait trade**
Commercial success came through portraiture. His *Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children* (1878) was a triumph at the Salon of 1879 and brought him wealthy clients. The dealer Paul Durand-Ruel became a crucial supporter and bought his work steadily. In 1880–81 he painted *Luncheon of the Boating Party* (now in the Phillips Collection, Washington), a joyful gathering of friends on a restaurant terrace at Chatou. One of its figures is Aline Charigot, a young seamstress who would become his wife.
**The "dry" period and a new direction**
Around 1881 Renoir traveled to Algeria and Italy. In Italy he was deeply struck by Raphael's work and by the frescoes of Pompeii. He came to feel that Impressionism had led him to a dead end, and that he no longer knew how to paint or draw. The result was a period of firmer outlines, smoother surfaces, and classical composition, sometimes called his "Ingresque" or "dry" manner. The key work of this phase is *The Large Bathers* (1884–87). Critics and even friends responded coolly. By the 1890s he had softened the approach into a warmer, more fluid late style. It was dominated by rich reds and oranges, feathery brushwork, and full-bodied nudes set in idyllic landscapes.
**Family life**
Renoir and Aline had three sons. Pierre (born 1885) became an actor. Jean (born 1894) became one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century, known for *La Grande Illusion* and *The Rules of the Game*. Claude, called "Coco" (born 1901), became a ceramicist. The family and their household, especially Gabrielle Renard, Aline's cousin who worked as a nanny, appear frequently in his paintings. Renoir and Aline married in 1890 and divided their time between Paris, Essoyes in Burgundy (Aline's home village), and the south of France.
**Illness and late years**
From the 1890s Renoir suffered from increasingly severe rheumatoid arthritis. By his final years his hands wer
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on 25 February 1841 in Limoges, France. His father was a tailor and his mother a seamstress. The family moved to Paris when he was about three and settled near the Louvre. At 13 he was apprenticed as a porcelain painter, decorating plates and vases with flowers and portraits. Mechanized printing soon made that trade obsolete, so he painted fans, blinds, and decorative panels while copying the old masters at the Louvre in his spare time.
In 1862 Renoir entered the École des Beaux-Arts and the studio of the Swiss painter Charles Gleyre. There he met Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, the friends who would help shape a new way of painting. His early work was influenced by Courbet, Delacroix, and the Rococo painters he admired, especially Fragonard and Boucher. He had his first acceptance at the official Salon in 1864, and he gained notice with *Lise with a Parasol* (1867), which featured his companion and model Lise Tréhot.
**The birth of Impressionism**
Renoir was often poor in these years. In 1869 he painted alongside Monet at La Grenouillère, a bathing spot on the Seine. There the two developed the broken brushwork and attention to shimmering light and reflection that became central to Impressionism. His career was interrupted in 1870 by the Franco-Prussian War, during which he served in a cavalry regiment and fell seriously ill with dysentery.
In 1874 he joined Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Sisley, Morisot, and others in the first independent group exhibition, the show that gave the "Impressionists" their name. He exhibited *La Loge* there. Over the following years he produced his most celebrated Impressionist works, most famously *Bal du moulin de la Galette* (1876, Musée d'Orsay), a crowded open-air dance in Montmartre alive with dappled sunlight. Renoir's focus set him apart from Monet. Where Monet cared mostly about landscape and light, Renoir cared most about people: faces, skin, social pleasure, and the warmth of everyday gatherings.
**Success and the portrait trade**
Commercial success came through portraiture. His *Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children* (1878) was a triumph at the Salon of 1879 and brought him wealthy clients. The dealer Paul Durand-Ruel became a crucial supporter and bought his work steadily. In 1880–81 he painted *Luncheon of the Boating Party* (now in the Phillips Collection, Washington), a joyful gathering of friends on a restaurant terrace at Chatou. One of its figures is Aline Charigot, a young seamstress who would become his wife.
**The "dry" period and a new direction**
Around 1881 Renoir traveled to Algeria and Italy. In Italy he was deeply struck by Raphael's work and by the frescoes of Pompeii. He came to feel that Impressionism had led him to a dead end, and that he no longer knew how to paint or draw. The result was a period of firmer outlines, smoother surfaces, and classical composition, sometimes called his "Ingresque" or "dry" manner. The key work of this phase is *The Large Bathers* (1884–87). Critics and even friends responded coolly. By the 1890s he had softened the approach into a warmer, more fluid late style. It was dominated by rich reds and oranges, feathery brushwork, and full-bodied nudes set in idyllic landscapes.
**Family life**
Renoir and Aline had three sons. Pierre (born 1885) became an actor. Jean (born 1894) became one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century, known for *La Grande Illusion* and *The Rules of the Game*. Claude, called "Coco" (born 1901), became a ceramicist. The family and their household, especially Gabrielle Renard, Aline's cousin who worked as a nanny, appear frequently in his paintings. Renoir and Aline married in 1890 and divided their time between Paris, Essoyes in Burgundy (Aline's home village), and the south of France.
**Illness and late years**
From the 1890s Renoir suffered from increasingly severe rheumatoid arthritis. By his final years his hands wer
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