Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Artwork & Bio of the French Painter

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter born on 25 February 1841 in Limoges, France. Renoir’s early talent for decoration earned him a job in a porcelain factory in his hometown. In 1860, he started traveling to the Louvre to study the works of the Old Masters. Two years later, Renoir enrolled in the studio of Charles Gleyre, studying with Frederic Bazille, Claude Monet, and Alfred Sisley. Together, they painted en Plein air and became proponents of Impressionism.

Following constant rejections from the Salon, Renoir’s finances began to tilt downhill until the Impressionists started holding independent exhibitions. In his later years, due to physical limitations of ill health, Renoir stopped painting and attempted sculpting, completing several artworks. He died in his home on 3 December 1919.

What was Pierre-Auguste Renoir Known For?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was known for painting landscapes, portraits, and scenes depicting the bourgeois Parisian life. When Renoir wasn’t painting landscapes from nature, he painted scenes of people in Paris living expressively. Despite his association with the movement fixated on capturing natural light, Renoir’s works always had an element of human realism.

Who was Pierre-Auguste Renoir Influenced By?

The works of Francois Boucher, Jean-Honore Frangorad, and Eugene Delacroix in the Louvre museum influenced Renoir’s painting style. In the early-1860s, Renoir took several trips to the Louvre, where the loose application of paint and brushstrokes of the Old Masters captured his attention the most. Gustave Courbet influenced Renoir’s later works in portraiture.

What Art Movement was Pierre-Auguste Renoir Associated With?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was associated with the Impressionism, Realism, and Renaissance art movement. Renoir turned toward the Renaissance methods later in his career, believing he had seen the end of Impressionism.