Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...

style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially

feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...

sensuality A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system re ...

, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

to Watteau." He was the father of actor

Pierre Renoir Pierre Renoir (March 21, 1885 – March 11, 1952) was a French stage and film actor. He was the son of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and elder brother of the film director Jean Renoir. He is also noted for being the first ...

(1885–1952), filmmaker

Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films '' ...

(1894–1979) and ceramic artist Claude Renoir (1901–1969). He was the grandfather of the filmmaker

Claude Renoir Claude Renoir (December 4, 1913Some sources, such as Ginette Vincendeau's ''Encyclopedia of European Cinema'', London: Cassell/BFI, 1995, p.328 indicate 1914 as his year of birth – September 5, 1993) was a French cinematographer. He was the ...

(1913–1993), son of Pierre.

Life

Youth

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; oc, Nauta Vinhana, ; English: Upper Vienne) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve departments that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitai ...

, 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 Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, 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 Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

, 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 Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

factory. 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 Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

. 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

factory adopted mechanical reproduction processes in 1858, Renoir was forced to find other means to support his learning. Before he enrolled in art school, he also painted hangings for overseas missionaries and decorations on fans. In 1862, he began studying art under

Charles Gleyre Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist who was a resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including H ...

in Paris. There he met

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedicatio ...

Frédéric Bazille Jean Frédéric Bazille (December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter. Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted '' en plein air'' ...

, and

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

. At times, during the 1860s, he did not have enough money to buy paint. Renoir had his first success at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

of 1868 with his painting '' Lise with a Parasol'' (1867), which depicted Lise Tréhot, his lover at the time. Distel, Anne. "Renoir, Auguste." ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford University Press. Web. 27 December 2014. Although Renoir first started exhibiting paintings at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial ar ...

in 1864, recognition was slow in coming, partly as a result of the turmoil of the Franco-Prussian War. During the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...

in 1871, while Renoir painted on the banks of the

Seine River ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributaries ...

, some

Communards The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards w ...

thought he was a spy and were about to throw him into the river, when a leader of the ''Commune'',

Raoul Rigault Raoul Adolphe Georges Rigault, (16 January 1846 in Paris, 24 May 1871 also in Paris) was a journalist and French Socialist revolutionary, best known for his role during the Paris Commune of 1871. He is most notable for his execution of Arch ...

, recognized Renoir as the man who had protected him on an earlier occasion. In 1874, a ten-year friendship with Jules Le Cœur and his family ended,Wadley, page 15. and Renoir lost not only the valuable support gained by the association but also a generous welcome to stay on their property near

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissemen ...

and its scenic

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

. This loss of a favorite painting location resulted in a distinct change of subjects.

Adulthood

Renoir was inspired by the style and subject matter of previous modern painters

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

and

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bor ...

. 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. That same year, two of his works were shown with

Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

in London. Auguste Renoir - The Swing - Google Art Project

Hoping to secure a livelihood by attracting portrait commissions, Renoir displayed mostly portraits at the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876. 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''. 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. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Le Moulin de la Galette

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Le Moulin de la Galette

In 1881, he traveled to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, a country he associated with

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

, then to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, to see the work of

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...

. Following that, he traveled to Italy to see

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

's masterpieces in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

and the paintings of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...

in Rome. On 15 January 1882, Renoir met the composer

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

at his home in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

, 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.Wadley, p. 25. In 1883, Renoir spent the summer in

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

, one of the

islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

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 ''Dance at Bougival'' ( French: ''La danse à Bougival'') is an 1883 work by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, currently in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Described as "one of the museum's most beloved works", it is ...

'', 1883) 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 Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

celebrated her

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু� ...

, 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. Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project

Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project

In 1890, he married Aline Victorine Charigot, a dressmaker twenty years his junior, 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. After marrying, Renoir painted many scenes of his wife and daily family life including their children and their nurse, Aline's cousin

Gabrielle Renard Gabrielle Renard (August 1, 1878 – February 26, 1959) was a French woman who became an important member of the family of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, first becoming their nanny, and subsequently a frequent model for the artist. The bond ...

. The Renoirs had three sons:

(1885–1952), who became a stage and film actor;

(1894–1979), who became a filmmaker of note; and Claude Renoir (1901–1969), who became a ceramic artist.

Later years

Renoir, Pierre-Auguste, by Dornac, BNF Gallica

Around 1892, Renoir developed

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are inv ...

. In 1907, he moved to the warmer climate of "Les Collettes", a farm at the village of

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pre ...

, close to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

coast. 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, but this is erroneous; Renoir remained able to grasp a brush, although he required an assistant to place it in his hand. The wrapping of his hands with bandages, apparent in late photographs of the artist, served to prevent skin irritation. In 1919, Renoir visited the

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. Renoir's portrait of 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 at Cagnes-sur-Mer on 3 December 1919.

Family legacy

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

Artworks

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 ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

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." 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. His initial paintings show the influence of the colorism of

and the luminosity of

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast o ...

. He also admired the realism of

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and ...

and

, and his early work resembles theirs in his use of black as a color. Renoir admired

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Printmaking, prints ...

' sense of movement. Other painters Renoir greatly admired were the 18th-century masters

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

and

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732 (birth/baptism certificate) – 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific ...

. 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. In the late 1860s, through the practice of painting light and water ''

en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

'' (outdoors), he and his friend

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 Diffuse reflection is the reflection of light or other waves or particles from a surface such that a ray incident on the surface is scattered at many angles rather than at just one angle as in the case of specular reflection. An ''ideal'' ...

. 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. Renoir Blond Bather

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

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...

, and other

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

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". For the next several years he painted in a more severe style in an attempt to return to classicism. Concentrating on his drawing and emphasizing the outlines of figures, he painted works such as '' Blonde Bather'' (1881 and 1882) and ''The Large Bathers'' (1884–87;

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin ...

) during what is sometimes referred to as his "

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassical painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic orthodoxy against the a ...

period".

Auguste Renoir - Young Girls at the Piano - Google Art Project

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. 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 Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Catalogue raisonné

A five-volume ''

catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

'' of Renoir's works (with one supplement) was published by

Bernheim-Jeune Bernheim-Jeune gallery is one of the oldest art galleries in Paris. Opened on Rue Laffitte in 1863 by Alexandre Bernheim (1839-1915), friend of Delacroix, Corot and Courbet, it changed location a few times before settling on Avenue Matignon. Th ...

between 1983 and 2014. 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. A disagreement between these two organizations concerning an unsigned work in

Picton Castle Picton Castle ( cy, Castell Pictwn) is a medieval castle near Haverfordwest in the community of Uzmaston, Boulston and Slebech, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Originally built at the end of the 13th century by a Flemish knight, it later came into the ha ...

was at the centre of the second episode of the fourth season of the television series '' Fake or Fortune''.

Posthumous prints

In 1919,

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with providing exposure and emotio ...

, 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,

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

s with hand applied

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

. 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

A small version of '' Bal du moulin de la Galette'' sold for $78.1 million 17 May 1990 at Sotheby's New York. 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 The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

in 1951. The sale was cancelled.

Gallery of paintings

Portraits and landscapes

File:Lise Sewing - 1866.jpg, ''Lise Sewing'', 1866,

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

File:Renoir11.jpg, ''La Grenouillère'', 1868,

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manage ...

, Stockholm File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 110.jpg, ''Portrait of

'', 1868 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 090.jpg, ''Pont-Neuf'', 1872 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 083.jpg, ''

Painting in His Garden at

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil. Argenteuil is the sec ...

'', 1873,

Wadsworth Atheneum The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, Connecticut File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 089.jpg, ''

La Parisienne LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'', 1874, ( Henriette Henriot),

National Museum Cardiff National Museum Cardiff ( cy, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd) is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Entry is kept free by a grant from the Welsh Gov ...

File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Danseuse.jpg, ''The Dancer'', 1874,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

, Washington, D.C. File:Auguste Renoir - Claude Monet - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of

'', 1875,

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...

, Paris, France File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French - The Grands Boulevards - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Grands Boulevards'', 1875,

File:Auguste Renoir - A Girl with a Watering Can - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

A Girl with a Watering Can ''A Girl with a Watering Can'' is an 1876 Impressionist painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The work was apparently painted in Claude Monet's famous garden at Argenteuil, and may portray one of the girls in Renoir's neighborhood in a blue dress hol ...

'', 1876,

, Washington, D.C. File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Portrait of Jeanne Durand-Ruel (Portrait de Mlle. J.) - BF950 - Barnes Foundation.jpg, ''Portrait of Jeanne Durand-Ruel'', 1876, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - La Promenade - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Mother and Children'', 1876,

Frick Collection The Frick Collection is an art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection (normally at the Henry Clay Frick House, currently at the Frick Madison) features Old Master paintings and European fine and decorative arts, including works by ...

, New York City File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 096.jpg, ''Portrait of

Jeanne Samary Jeanne Samary (4 March 1857 as Léontine Pauline Jeanne Samary in Neuilly-sur-Seine – 18 September 1890 in Paris) was a French actress at the Comédie-Française and a model for Auguste Renoir, including for Renoir's 1881 painting, ''Lunche ...

'', 1877,

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (russian: Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина, abbreviated as ) is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just oppo ...

, Moscow File:Renoir - Madame Georges Charpentier et ses enfants.jpg, ''Mme. Charpentier and her children'', 1878,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York File:Renoir - Portrait of Alphonsine Fournaise.JPG, ''Portrait of Alphonsine Fournaise,'' 1879,

, Paris, France File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - La Yole.jpg, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, ''Boating on the Seine (La Yole)'', c. 1879 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - By the Water.jpg, ''By the Water'', 1880,

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, Chicago, Illinois File:Pierre-August Renoir Sleeping Girl with a Cat.jpg, ''Sleeping Girl with a Cat'', Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts File:Renoir Mlles Cahen d Anvers.jpg, '' Pink and Blue'' showing Alice and Elisabeth Cahen d'Anvers, 1881,

São Paulo Museum of Art The São Paulo Museum of Art ( pt, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, or ') is an art museum located on Paulista Avenue in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is well known for its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo ...

, São Paulo File:Pierre Auguste Renoir - The Piazza San Marco, Venice - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Piazza San Marco, Venice'', 1881 (Minneapolis Institute of Art) File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Jeanne Henriot.jpg, ''Fillette au chapeau bleu'', 1881, ( Jane Henriot), private collection File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 107.jpg, ''Portrait of Charles and Georges

'', 1882 File:Dance-At-Bougival.jpg, ''

'', 1882–1883, (woman at left is painter Suzanne Valadon),

Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

File:Pierre Auguste Renoir - Country Dance - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Dance in the Country ''Dance in the Country'' (French: ''Danse à la campagne'') is an 1883 oil painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It is currently kept at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Background This painting was commissioned in 1882 by the merchant Pa ...

'' (''Aline Charigot and Paul Lhote''), 1883,

, Paris File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 019.jpg, ''

Dance in the City ''Dance in the City'' is a painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 1883 work is in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay. The dancers are model and artist Suzanne Valadon and Renoir's friend Paul Auguste Lhôte. This work, along with ...

'', 1883,

, Paris, France File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Children on the Seashore, Guernsey (Enfants au bord de la mer à Guernesey) - BF10 - Barnes Foundation.jpg, ''Children at the Beach at

,'' 1883, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Sailor Boy (Portrait of Robert Nunès) - BF325 - Barnes Foundation.jpg, ''Jeune garçon sur la plage d'Yport'', 1883, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia File:Girl with a Hoop.JPG, ''Girl With a Hoop'', 1885,

, Washington, D.C. File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Suzanne Valadon - La Natte - Girl Braiding Her Hair.jpg, '' Girl Braiding Her Hair ( Suzanne Valadon)'', 1885 File:GUGG Still Life Flowers.jpg, '' Still Life: Flowers'', 1885,

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

, New York File:Pierre Auguste Renoir - Tamaris, France - 2006.9.2 - Minneapolis Institute of Arts.jpg, ''Tamaris, France'', c. 1885 (Minneapolis Institute of Art) File:La Roche Guyon - Pierre Auguste Renoir - ABDAG003043.jpg, ''La Roche Guyon'', 1885–86, Aberdeen Art Gallery File:Auguste Renoir - Julie Manet - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Julie Manet Julie Manet (14 November 1878 – 14 July 1966) was a French painter, model, diarist, and art collector. Biography Born in Paris, Manet was the daughter and only child of artist Berthe Morisot and Eugène Manet, younger brother of painter Édou ...

with cat,'' 1887 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Jeune fille au ruban bleu.jpg, '' Young Woman with a Blue Choker'', 1888 File:Renoir - Jeune fille se peignant (La Toilette), 1894.jpg, ''Young Girl with Red Hair'', 1894 File:Berthe Morisot and her daughter Julie Manet 1894.jpg, ''Portrait of

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly e ...

and daughter

'', 1894 File:Pierre Auguste Renoir - Head of a Young Woman - 61.15 - Minneapolis Institute of Arts.jpg, ''Head of a Young Woman'', late 19th century (

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

) File:Gabrielle et Jean, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, from C2RMF cropped.jpg, ''

and infant son

'', 1895 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - The Artist's Family (La Famille de l'artiste) - BF819 - Barnes Foundation.jpg, ''The Artist's Family'', 1896, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 106.jpg, ''Portrait of

'', 1908 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 113.jpg, ''Portrait of

Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

'', 1910 File:Ambroise Vollard by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.jpg, ''Portrait of

'', 1917 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 036.jpg, ''Woman with a

Mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

'', 1919

Self-portraits

File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Autoportrait, 1875.jpg, ''

Self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

'', 1875 File:Renoir24.jpg, ''

'', 1876 File:Renoir Self-Portrait 1910.jpg, ''

'', 1910 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Autoportrait 5.JPG, ''

'', 1910

Nudes

File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 020.jpg, '' Diana'', 1867, The

, Washington, DC File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Torse, effet de soleil.jpg, ''Nude in the Sun'', 1875,

, Paris File:Femme Nue dans un Paysage, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, from C2RMF cropped.jpg, ''Seated Girl'', 1883 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French - The Large Bathers - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Large Bathers'', 1887,

File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 085.jpg, ''After The Bath'', 1888 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Trois Baigneuses au crabe.jpg, ''Three Bathers'', 1895, Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

, Ohio File:Renoir's Nude.jpg, ''

Nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

'',

National Museum of Serbia The National Museum of Serbia ( sr, / ) is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and three streets: Čika Ljubina ...

, Belgrade File:Renoir18.jpg, '' After The Bath'', 1910, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 030.jpg, ''Woman at the Well'', 1910 File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Baigneuse assise s'essuyant une jambe.jpg, ''Seated Bather Drying Her Leg'', 1914,

Musée de l'Orangerie The Musée de l'Orangerie ( en, Orangery Museum) is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings located in the west corner of the Tuileries Garden next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The museum is most famous as th ...

, Paris File:Bathing Women (Auguste Renoir) - Nationalmuseum - 19163.tif, ''Women Bathers'', 1916,

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

, Stockholm File:Pierre Auguste Renoir Les baigneuses.jpg, ''Bathers'', 1918, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

Interactive image

Close-ups

References

External links

On 7 December 2019 th
Alberta Symphony Orchestra
presented
Tribute to Renoir
at Triffo Theater in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, under the direction of pianist and conducto
Emilio De Mercato
for the 100th anniversary of the death of Renoir. * *

* ttp://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/78705/rec/222 ''Impressionism: a centenary exhibition'' an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Renoir (p. 179–200)
''Renoir works at the Art Institute of Chicago''
a digital catalogue * * * , (1:49)

* , (6:14)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renoir, Pierre-Auguste 1841 births 1919 deaths People from Limoges French portrait painters French Impressionist painters 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century male artists École des Beaux-Arts alumni Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur French people of the Franco-Prussian War Members of the Ligue de la patrie française People of Montmartre Pierre-Auguste