Renoir Pierre Auguste, French painter, graphic artist and sculptor. In his youth he worked as a porcelain painter, painting curtains and fans. In 1862-1864, Renoir studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he became close to his future colleagues in impressionism, Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley. Renoir worked in Paris, visited Algeria, Italy, Spain, Holland, Great Britain, Germany. In the early works of Renoir, the influence of Gustave Courbet and the works of the young Édouard Manet (Mother Anthony's Tavern, 1866, National Museum, Stockholm) is felt.

At the turn of the 1860s-1870s, Renoir switched to painting in the open air, organically including human figures in a changeable light and air environment (“Bathing in the Seine”, 1869, Pushkin Museum, Moscow). Renoir's palette brightens, a light dynamic stroke becomes transparent and vibrating, the color is saturated with silver-pearl reflections (“The Lodge”, 1874, Cortold Institute, London). Depicting episodes snatched from the stream of life, random life situations, Renoir preferred the festive scenes of urban life - balls, dances, walks, as if trying to embody in them the sensual fullness and joy of being (Moulin de la Galette, 1876, Musee d'Orsay, Paris ).

A special place in the work of Renoir is occupied by poetic and charming female images: internally different, but outwardly slightly similar to each other, they seem to be marked by a common seal of the era (“After Dinner”, 1879, Shtedel Institute of Art, “Umbrellas”, 1876, National Gallery, London; portrait of the actress Jeanne Samary, 1878, Hermitage, St. Petersburg). In the depiction of the nude, Renoir achieves a rare sophistication of carnations, built on a combination of warm flesh tones with gliding light greenish and gray-blue reflexes, giving a smooth and dull surface to the canvas (“Nude Woman Seated on a Couch”, 1876). A wonderful colorist, Renoir often achieves the impression of monochrome painting with the help of the finest combinations of tones close in color (“Girls in Black”, 1883, Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow).

From the 1880s, Renoir gravitated more and more towards classical clarity and generalization of forms; features of decorativeness and serene idyllicity are growing in his painting (“Great Bathers”, 1884-1887, Tyson collection, Philadelphia). Numerous drawings and etchings (“Bathers”, 1895) by Renoir are distinguished by laconicism, lightness and airiness of the stroke.

Great French Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir said: "I could not walk yet, but I already loved women." Women were for him the embodiment of harmony and beauty, a source of inspiration and the main theme of creativity. He had many lovers, but only Lisa Treo, Marguerite Legrand and Alina Sharigo became his muses for many years.

Renoir was called the singer of the joy of life. He said: “For me, a picture ... should always be pleasant, joyful and beautiful, yes - beautiful! There are enough boring things in life… I know it is difficult to get recognition that great art can be joyful.”

For 7 years, Renoir's muse was Lisa Treo. They met when the girl was 18 and the artist was 24. He depicted her in the paintings "Lisa with an umbrella", "Summer", "Lady in a Boat", "Woman with a Parrot", "Odalisque" and others (about 20 works in total). The initiator of their breakup was Lisa after Pierre Auguste refused to marry her, even after he was accepted into her parents' house as a son-in-law.

All summer 1876, Renoir worked on the painting "Ball at the Moulin de la Galette." Following his habit, he depicted on the canvas not professional sitters, but his friends and acquaintances. On the left side of the picture is a dancing girl. In this image, the artist immortalized his young muse - 16-year-old seamstress Marguerite Legrand, who was nicknamed Baby Margot in Montmartre.

The artist met her in 1875. Margot became his lover and muse for 4 years. He was not embarrassed by the fact that acquaintances characterized her as a cheeky street girl who made friends with suspicious personalities. He liked her lively disposition and unbridled gaiety. She posed for such films as "Swing", "Girl in a Boat", "After the Concert" and "A Cup of Chocolate". And in 1879 she died of smallpox. For Renoir, this was a great shock.

Actress Jeanne Samary, whose portraits were painted by Renoir, argued: “Renoir was not made for marriage. He combines the bonds of marriage with all the women he paints, through the touch of his brush. However, the loving artist still got married. Alina Sharigo won his heart.

The artist was fascinated by a 20-year-old apprentice milliner and invited her to work with him as a model. Alina agreed, although she was far from painting: “I didn’t understand anything, but I liked to watch him write,” Alina later told her children. “I only knew that Auguste was created to write, like a vineyard - to give wine.”

Renoir resisted the feeling for a long time and did not want to take it seriously. He even tried to break up with Alina and went on a trip, but on his return he still stayed with her. Their life together was surprisingly calm and happy, but he was in no hurry to marry. The wedding took place when their son was already in his fifth year. Thanks to the wisdom and patience of Alina Sharigo, their marriage turned out to be long-lasting: for 35 years, the woman turned a blind eye to her husband's infidelity, believing that artists could not do otherwise.

Renoir also painted quite well-known representatives of Parisian bohemia.

Renoir was the first of the Impressionists to win success with wealthy Parisians. In the mid 1880s. he actually broke with impressionism, returning to the linearity of classicism, to "engrysme". Father of the famous director Jean Renoir.

Pierre Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Date of Birth	25 February(1841-02-25 ) […]
Place of Birth	Limoges
Date of death	December 3(1919-12-03 ) […] (78 years old)
A place of death	Cagnes-sur-Mer
A country
Genre	portrait scenery still life
Studies	National High School of Fine Arts ( )
Style	impressionism
Awards
Signature
Media files at Wikimedia Commons

Biography

Auguste Renoir was born on February 25, 1841 in Limoges, a city in the south of Central France. Renoir was the sixth child of 7 children of the poor tailor Leonard Renoir (1799-1874) and his wife Marguerite (1807-1896).

Renoir's personal happiness and professional success were overshadowed by illness. In 1897, he broke his right arm after falling off his bicycle. As a result, he developed rheumatism, from which the artist suffered until the end of his life. Because of this, it became difficult for Renoir to live in Paris, and in 1903 the Renoir family moved to an estate called "Colette" in the small town of Cagnes-sur-Mer.

External images
	Ambroise Vollard. Renoir. 1913

Creation

1862-1873. Genre selection

1883-1890. "Engrov period"

Renoir traveled to Algiers, then to Italy, where he became closely acquainted with the works of the Renaissance classics, after which his artistic taste changed. Ingres was the source of inspiration during this period, so art historians call this period in the artist's work "Ingres". Renoir himself called this period "sour". He painted a series of paintings "Dance in the Village" (1882/1883), "Dance in the City" (1883), "Dance in Bougival" (1883), as well as canvases such as "In the Garden" (1885) and "Umbrellas" (1881/1886), where the impressionist past is still visible, but Renoir's new approach to painting appears; the environment is painted in an impressionistic manner, the figures are outlined with clear lines. The most famous work of this period is The Great Bathers (1884/1887). For the construction of the composition, the author first used sketches and sketches. The lines of the drawing became clear and defined. The colors lost their former brightness and saturation, the painting as a whole began to look more restrained and colder. For this work posed: Alina Sharigo - the artist's wife and Suzanne Valadon - Renoir's model and artist, mother of Maurice Utrillo.

1891-1902. "Pearl Period"

In 1892, Durand-Ruel opened a large exhibition of paintings by Renoir, which was a great success. Recognition also came from government officials - the painting "Girls at the Piano" (1892) was purchased for the Luxembourg Museum.

French painter Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)- one of the key figures standing at the origins of impressionism. Already during his lifetime, he achieved considerable success and recognition among compatriots. Now his name is on a par with, and other founders.

The future great painter came from a simple family of a tailor. He was the sixth child of seven. This is probably why Renoir worked on a par with his parents from childhood. He brought his first earnings to the house at the age of 13, having settled in a workshop for painting dishes.

The artist created portraits, still lifes, cityscapes and seascapes, genre sketches and even nudes. More than 1400 paintings by Renoir have survived to this day, 1377 of them were written in an impressionistic manner. In addition to paintings, he worked for some time and.

Renoir's talent for singing should also be noted: having got into the church choir after the family moved from Limoges to Paris, the future great artist made a huge impression on his regent. Who knows how his fate might have turned out if his talent for painting had not been revealed during the same period?

Unlike other representatives of his direction, Renoir had little interest in plein air. He practically did not care about the play of light as such, he embodied all the techniques of the Impressionists in other works: mostly they were portraits of fairly wealthy people of that time and their loved ones. Pierre Auguste Renoir often repeated that he knew nothing about painting, he was only interested in women, children and roses. Moreover, any talk about art made him sad, and sometimes completely infuriated.

However, it is no coincidence that he is considered a master of secular portraiture. The artist endowed the images with a bit of sentimentality, causing the peremptory disposition of the audience. In his paintings, Renoir showed a person in unexpected life situations, when communicating with relatives and friends, in unity with the beauty of nature. The master sought to show the festive side of the life of the townspeople. In his works we see serene scenes of relaxation, colorful heroes, dynamic walks, balls with dances.

Despite the fact that in different periods of his work, Renoir radically revised many of his techniques, the peculiarity of his writing has always been emotionality, slight transience. He made a quick pictorial sketch created from the first impression. This is what the Impressionists always sought in their quest.

The early period of Renoir's work is associated with a diligent search for genre and style. His teacher at the School of Fine Arts, where the young man came after the closure of the workshop for painting dishes, was Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre. The young artist experimented a lot and was eventually captured by a new direction in painting - impressionism.

Already during this period, he was not limited to one genre and created a portrait of The Artist's Mother (1860), the painting The Return of the Boating Party (1862) and the floral still life Crown of Roses. (Crown of Roses, 1858). They are distinguished by the airiness and emotionality of the transmission, but still the uncertainty of the incarnation. In the paintings, one can feel a touch of the imposed academic school and an irresistible desire to go beyond the boundaries of the accepted.

The first successful work of Renoir, highly appreciated at the Salon, was the portrait of his beloved "Lise with an umbrella" (Lise with Umbrella, 1867). The strict image of a young girl in a white dress briefly became the hallmark of the painter. At this time, Renoir was influenced by the artists of the Barbizon school, as well as.

In the period from 1874 to 1882, Renoir, along with his comrades from the Anonymous Cooperative Partnership, fought for the right to be heard and, as a result, largely due to this, achieved universal recognition. True, the first exhibition of young impressionists was a failure, and the very name "impressionists" seemed offensive. Despite this, all members of the partnership somehow succeeded.

It was during these years that perhaps his strongest works come out from under the artist’s hand: Camille Monet And Her Son Jean In The Garden At Argenteuil, 1874, Pink and Blue (Pink and Blue, 1881) and "Ball at the Moulin de la Galette" (Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, 1876). By the way, a smaller copy of the latter became the most expensive painting by Renoir. It was sold in 1990 at Sotheby's in New York for $78 million.

Following him, until the beginning of the 1890s, the so-called "Ingres period" of Renoir's work lasts. The artist himself called it "sour". Under the influence of the works of the classics of the Renaissance, the taste of the painter is changing. Renoir decisively abandons impressionism and returns to realism.

During this period, he creates another high-profile picture - "The Great Bathers" (The Great Bathers, 1884-1887), which depicts three naked girls. The lines of the drawing on it have become much clearer, the colors have lost their brightness, and other paintings seem to have become “colder”.

The next decade of Renoir's work is usually called the "pearl period". He received this name due to the fact that in the artist's pictorial manner a tendency to iridescent colors appeared. The most typical works of this time are “Apples and flowers” ​​(Apples and flowers, 1895-1896) and “Woman playing the guitar” (Woman playing the guitar, 1896). At this stage, the artist was especially interested in canvases and.

The final period of Renoir's work is usually called "red". And in this case, you should not look for hidden meanings: the artist simply began to give preference to warm red and pink shades. It was at this time that he suffered from one disease, then from another, and as a result he was bedridden and could only draw with great difficulty, squeezing the brush with weakened fingers.

All his life, Pierre-Auguste Renoir joked that he knew nothing about painting. A few hours before his death, he asked for a brush, paints and a new palette to paint a still life from a bouquet collected for him. His last words were:

“I think I’m starting to understand something about this.”

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841 - 1919) - French impressionist painter, graphic artist and sculptor. | Part-1: Stages of the path and genre painting.

Pierre Auguste Renoir (French Pierre-Auguste Renoir; February 25, 1841, Limoges - December 2, 1919, Cagnes-sur-Mer) - French painter, graphic artist and sculptor, one of the main representatives of impressionism. Renoir is known primarily as a master of a secular portrait, not devoid of sentimentality; he was the first of the Impressionists to succeed with wealthy Parisians. In the mid 1880s. actually broke with impressionism, returning to the linearity of classicism, to engrism. The father of the famous director.

Auguste Renoir was born on February 25, 1841 in Limoges, a city located in the south of Central France. Renoir was the sixth child of a poor tailor named Léonard and his wife, Marguerite.
In 1844, the Renoirs moved to Paris, and here Auguste entered the church choir at the great Cathedral of Saint-Eustache. He had such a voice that the choir director, Charles Gounod, tried to convince the boy's parents to send him to study music. However, in addition to this, Auguste showed the gift of an artist, and when he was 13 years old, he began to help his family by getting a job with a master, from whom he learned to paint porcelain plates and other dishes. In the evenings, Auguste attended a painting school.

"Dance at Bougival" (1883), Boston Museum of Fine Arts

In 1865, at the house of his friend, the artist Jules Le Coeur, he met a 16-year-old girl, Lisa Treo, who soon became Renoir's lover and his favorite model. In 1870, their daughter Jeanne Marguerite was born, although Renoir refused to acknowledge his paternity officially. Their relationship continued until 1872, when Lisa left Renoir and married another.
Renoir's creative career was interrupted in 1870-1871, when he was drafted into the army during the Franco-Prussian war, which ended in a crushing defeat for France.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alina Charigot, 1885, Museum of Art, Philadelphia

In 1890, Renoir married Alina Charigot, whom he had met ten years earlier when she was a 21-year-old seamstress. They already had a son, Pierre, born in 1885, and after the wedding they had two more sons - Jean, born in 1894, and Claude (known as "Coco"), born in 1901 and became one of the most beloved models father.

By the time his family was finally formed, Renoir had achieved success and fame, was recognized as one of the leading artists of France and managed to receive the title of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor from the state.

Renoir's personal happiness and professional success were overshadowed by illness. In 1897, Renoir broke his right arm after falling off his bicycle. As a result, he developed rheumatism, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. Rheumatism made it difficult for Renoir to live in Paris, and in 1903 the Renoir family moved to an estate called "Colette" in the small town of Cagnes-sur-Mer.
After an attack of paralysis that occurred in 1912, despite two surgical operations, Renoir was chained to a wheelchair, but continued to paint with a brush that was put between his fingers by a nurse.

In the last years of his life, Renoir gained fame and universal recognition. In 1917, when his "Umbrellas" were exhibited at the London National Gallery, hundreds of British artists and ordinary art lovers sent him congratulations, which said: "From the moment your painting was hung in the same row with the works of the old masters, we experienced the joy that our contemporary took his rightful place in European painting. Renoir's painting was also exhibited at the Louvre, and in August 1919 the artist visited Paris for the last time to look at it.

On December 3, 1919, Pierre-Auguste Renoir died in Cagnes-sur-Mer from pneumonia at the age of 78. Buried in Essua.

Marie-Félix Hippolyte-Lucas (1854-1925) - portrait by Renoir 1919

1862-1873 Choice of genres

"Spring Bouquet" (1866). Museum of Harvard University.

In early 1862, Renoir passed the exams at the School of Fine Arts at the Academy of Arts and enrolled in Gleyre's studio. There he met Fantin-Latour, Sisley, Basil and Claude Monet. Soon they became friends with Cezanne and Pizarro, so the backbone of the future Impressionist group was formed.
In his early years, Renoir was influenced by the work of the Barbizons, Corot, Prudhon, Delacroix and Courbet.
In 1864, Gleyre closed the workshop, the training ended. Renoir began to paint his first canvases and then for the first time presented the painting "Esmeralda dancing among the tramps" to the Salon. She was accepted, but when the canvas was returned to him, the author destroyed it.
Having chosen genres for his works in those years, he did not change them until the end of his life. This is a landscape - "Jules le Coeur in the Forest of Fontainebleau" (1866), everyday scenes - "The Frog" (1869), "Pont Neuf" (1872), still life - "Spring Bouquet" (1866), "Still Life with a Bouquet and a Fan" (1871), portrait - "Lisa with an umbrella" (1867), "Odalisque" (1870), nude - "Diana the Huntress" (1867).
In 1872, Renoir and his friends created the Anonymous Cooperative Partnership.

1874-1882 Struggle for recognition

"Ball at the Moulin de la Galette" (1876). Musée d'Orsay.

The first exhibition of the partnership opened on April 15, 1874. Renoir presented pastels and six paintings, among which were "Dancer" and "Lodge" (both - 1874). The exhibition ended in failure, and the members of the partnership received an insulting nickname - "Impressionists".
Despite poverty, it was during these years that the artist created his main masterpieces: Grands Boulevards (1875), Walk (1875), Ball at the Moulin de la Galette (1876), Nude (1876), Nude in the Sunlight" (1876), "Swing" (1876), "First Departure" (1876/1877), "Path in the Tall Grass" (1877).
Renoir gradually ceased to participate in exhibitions of the Impressionists. In 1879, he presented the full-figure Portrait of the Actress Jeanne Samary (1878) and Portrait of Madame Charpentier with Children (1878) to the Salon in 1879 and achieved universal recognition, and after that financial independence. He continued to write new canvases - in particular, the famous "Clichy Boulevard" (1880), "Breakfast of the Rowers" (1881), "On the Terrace" (1881), which became famous.

1883-1890 "Ingres period"

"Big bathers" (1884-1887). Museum of Art, Philadelphia.

Renoir traveled to Algeria, then to Italy, where he became closely acquainted with the works of the Renaissance classics, after which his artistic taste changed. Renoir painted a series of paintings "Dance in the Village" (1882/1883), "Dance in the City" (1883), "Dance in Bougival" (1883), as well as such canvases as "In the Garden" (1885) and "Umbrellas" (1881/1886), where the impressionist past is still visible, but Renoir's new approach to painting appears.
The so-called "Ingres period" opens. The most famous work of this period is The Great Bathers (1884/1887). For the construction of the composition, the author first used sketches and sketches. The lines of the drawing became clear and defined. The colors lost their former brightness and saturation, the painting as a whole began to look more restrained and colder.

1891-1902 "Pearl period"

"Girls at the Piano" (1892). Musée d'Orsay.

In 1892, Durand-Ruel opened a large exhibition of paintings by Renoir, which was a great success. Recognition also came from government officials - the painting "Girls at the Piano" (1892) was purchased for the Luxembourg Museum.
Renoir traveled to Spain, where he got acquainted with the work of Velasquez and Goya.
In the early 90s, new changes took place in Renoir art. In a picturesque manner, an iridescence of color appeared, which is why this period is sometimes called "mother-of-pearl".
At this time, Renoir painted such paintings as "Apples and Flowers" (1895/1896), "Spring" (1897), "Son Jean" (1900), "Portrait of Mrs. Gaston Bernheim" (1901). He traveled to the Netherlands, where he was interested in the paintings of Vermeer and Rembrandt.

1903-1919 "Red Period"

"Gabriel in a red blouse" (1910). Collection of M. Wertem, New York.

The "pearl" period gave way to the "red", so named because of the preference for shades of reddish and pink flowers.
Renoir continued to paint sunny landscapes, still lifes with bright colors, portraits of his children, naked women, created A Walk (1906), Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1908), Gabriel in a Red Blouse (1910), Bouquet of Roses "(1909/1913)," Woman with a mandolin "(1919).

In the film "Amelie" the neighbor of the main character Ramon Dufael has been making copies of Renoir's painting "Breakfast of the Rowers" for 10 years.
A close friend of Auguste Renoir was Henri Matisse, who was almost 28 years his junior. When O. Renoir was essentially bedridden due to illness, A. Matisse visited him every day. Renoir, almost paralyzed by arthritis, overcoming pain, continued to paint in his studio. Once, watching the pain with which each stroke of the brush is given to him, Matisse could not stand it and asked: “Auguste, why don’t you leave painting, are you suffering so much?” Renoir limited himself to only the answer: “La douleur passe, la beauté reste” (Pain passes, but beauty remains). And this was the whole Renoir, who worked until his last breath.