Renoir

By Sandra Forty

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was, above all, a painter of people, especially young women and rosy-cheeked children. In many ways, he is the most approachable Impressionist. Not for him were the grim realities of a hard life. Renoir painted people enjoying themselves: talking, flirting, laughing, often dancing, eating, drinking, and simply passing joyful times together. A constant theme throughout his works is the female nude. It was a subject he approached over and over again, sometimes sharply defining the figure, but more typically gently blurring the outline to better suggest the curves and shadows of the model’s flesh. Renoir was one of the founding theorists and practitioners of the Impressionist movement, using techniques he developed as he painted side by side with Claude Monet. But after a visit to Italy in 1881, he abandoned the Impressionist movement, returning to a much more conventional, populist approach with linear, classical composition and execution. Unfortunately, the long-standing success of Impressionism has overshadowed Renoir’s later work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TAJ Books International
• Release date: Mar 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781844062805

Sandra Forty

Sandra Forty is a graduate of London University where she studied medieval and early modern history, including a spell at the Courtauld Institute learning about Renaissance art from Professor Gombrich. Since then she has worked as a journalist in London, then as a book editor and writer. She is the author of a number of books, most on art and architecture. Sandra lives in south Devon with her husband, children and many cats.

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PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR

1841–1919

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was, above all, a painter of people, especially young women and rosy-cheeked children. In many ways, he is the most approachable Impressionist. His style is instantly recognizable with its free-flowing brush strokes, creating brightly colored, romanticized pictures, which recall sunny days and relaxed pleasures in flower-filled gardens. His outdoor scenes sparkle with dappled sunlight. You, the viewer, can almost feel the warmth of the sun and the light, refreshing breeze he portrays.

Not for him were the grim realities of a hard life. Renoir painted people enjoying themselves: talking, flirting, laughing, often dancing, eating, drinking, and simply passing joyful times together. A constant theme throughout his professional work was the female nude. It was a subject he approached over and over again, sometimes sharply defining the figure, but more typically gently blurring the outline to better suggest the curves and shadows of the model’s flesh. He liked a certain kind of woman—a simple peasant type or a hard-working woman who had few airs and graces. Perhaps because of his humble origins he was always deeply suspicious of educated women, an opinion he shared widely with anyone