Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was one of the most famous artists of the early twentieth century. He was born in Limoges in France in 1841 and was the son of a tailor and a seamstress. The family settled in Paris between 1844 and 1846, living near the Louvre. As a teenager, Renoir was apprenticed to a porcelain painter. He also took free drawing classes at a city-sponsored art school. Renoir started to imitate some of the great works which were shown in the Louvre. He began to study at to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1862 and he became a student of Charles Gleyre. In this period he befriended artists like Frédéric Bazille, Claude Monet, and Alfred Sisley. From 1864 Renoir was allowed to display some works in the annual Paris Salon exhibit. While his Salon works helped raise his profile in the art world, Renoir had to struggle to make a living. Renoir had to take a break from his work in 1870 when he was drafted into the army to serve in France's war against Germany. After the war, Renoir and some of his friends, including Pissarro, Monet, Cézanne and Edgar Degas, decided to display their works on their own in Paris in 1874, which became known as the first Impressionist exhibition. Renoir, like other Impressionists, embraced a brighter palette for his paintings, which gave them a warmer and sunnier feel. He also used different types of brushstrokes to capture his artistic vision on the canvas. Renoir traveled to various countries in the early 1880s, including Algeria, Italy, and Southern France. In 1907, Renoir bought some land in Cagnes-sur-Mer where he built a stately home for his family. The world-renowned Renoir continued to paint until his death, although rheumatism plagued him since the mid-1890s. One of his works was bought by the Louvre in 1919. Renoir died in the same year at his home in Cagnes-sur-Mer in France.