Pierre Auguste Renoir

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir, a French leader in the Impressionist movement, was born in Limoges, France on February 25, 1841. His family moved to Paris in 1845 where they lived in an apartment in the Louvre. At 13, Renoir accepted a position as an apprentice porcelain painter where he painted profiles of Marie Antoinette onto white teacups. During his free time, Renoir would visit the art galleries of the Louvre to view the works of Delacroix, Boucher and Fragonard. In 1862 Auguste Renoir joined the art school of Charles Gleyre where he met fellow students Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Frederic Bazille. The basic concepts of impressionism developed from the times this group spent together in the cafes of Paris. During 1869 Renoir and Monet worked together at La Grenouillere, on the Seine, and produced the first impressionist paintings.

In 1870 Renoir was called up for duty in the Franco-Prussian War where he trained horses in the Pyrenees. In 1871 Renoir returned to Paris, where he met Paul Durand-Ruel, the first art dealer to support the impressionists. Through Ruel’s patronage Renoir was able to move into a large studio in the Rue St Georges. Although the first impressionist exhibition was held in 1874, the impressionists still struggled for acceptance from the establishment, but over time a small group of enthusiastic followers emerged and became supportive of the movement.

In 1880 Renoir met Aline Charigot and quickly developed a relationship with her. Aline wanted to live in Burgundy, but Renoir was against this as he was against having children. Aline ended the relationship and Renoir responded by traveling across Europe to meet with other influential painters. Throughout his travels Renoir remained in love with Aline and he returned to Paris in 1862 to marry her. Moving back into his old Rue St Georges studio, Renoir developed a new style of painting, surrounding his figures with sharp hard outlines as can be seen in a set of paintings known as The Bathers (1884 -7) [1, 2]. Although fellow impressionists criticized this new harsh style, these paintings quickly became popular with the Americans.  As money became less of a burden, the Renoirs decided to move to a bigger house in Montmartre and took on 15 year old Gabrielle Renard, a distant cousin of Alines', to help around the estate as well as to pose as a model.

In 1887 Renoir broke his arm falling from a bicycle, which brought on his first attack of muscular rheumatism. As Renoir deteriorated from the disease, he spent more and more time in the south of France and in 1907 built a house in Cagnes on the Riviera. By 1908 Renoir could walk only with sticks and by 1912 he was confined to a wheelchair. Despite his increased degeneration and the death of Aline in 1915, Renoir began to sculpt with the assistance of two young sculptors and to he continued to paint, with Gabrielle having to push the paint brush between his twisted fingers. Pierre-Auguste Renoir died in his sleep on December 3, 1919.

Charlsie Medellin, 2004