Pierre Auguste Renoir

French painter originally associated with the Impressionist movement. His early works were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour and light. 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 (e.g. , Bathers, 1884-87). 


Renoir was born in 1841 in Limoges, where he started as a porcelain painter. In 1862, he became a student of Charles Gleyre and met his influential friends: Bazille, Monet, and Sisley. Like many of his friends, Renoir's works were often rejected by the Paris Salon; this motivated him to participate, with the independents, in the exhibition of 1874, which first brought the Impressionists to the attention of the public. 

Although the Impressionists shared similar color approaches and fugitive effects of motion and light, each artist had very much his own style. Renoir, for instance, was a specialist of human figures among the Impressionist artists; he was an admirer of what was beautiful in the human body and what was pleasurable in human life. Thus, he was also a painter of happiness. He was able to capture the essence of modern life in his works. Scenes from the world of entertainment -- dance hall, concerts, cafes -- were all his favorite subjects. 


Renoir suffered from severe rheumatism in his late years, which made it almost impossible for him to paint without having the brushes tied to his hands. He eventually died in 1919 at Cagnes, at the age of 78.