Pierre Auguste Renoir
Biography
Pierre Auguste Renoir was central figure of the impressionist movement, his work is characterized by a richness of feeling and a warmth of response to the world.
His early works were typically snapshots of real life, full of color 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.
One of the best-known Impressionist works is Renoir’s 1876 Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette). The painting depicts an open-air scene, crowded with people, at a popular dance garden on the Butte Montmartre, close to where he lived.
In 1890 he married Aline Victorine Charigot, with whom he had already had a child, Pierre, in 1885. Renoir painted many scenes of his wife and daily family life, including their children and their nurse, Aline’s cousin Gabrielle Renard. The Renoirs had three sons, one of whom, Jean, became a filmmaker of note and another, Pierre, became a stage and film actor.
He was passionate about painting and would continue until he was elderly and suffering from severe arthritis, tying the brushes to his wrists to keep going
Born: 1841
Died: 1919
Education: Apprenticeship at a porcelain factory, then studied under Charles Gleyre in Paris
Exhibitions
Select Exhibitions
2022
Bridget Riley & Pierre-Auguste Renoir, THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION WASHINGTON D.C. | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | USA
Renoir, Monet, Gauguin: Images Of A Floating World, MUSEUM FOLKWANG ESSEN ESSEN | GERMANY
Renoir. Rococo Revival, STÄDEL MUSEUM FRANKFURT | GERMANY
Renoir unplugged
MUSEUM LANGMATT BADEN | SWITZERLAND
2020
Renoir and the New Era: Impressionists works from The Courtauld, ULSTER MUSEUM BELFAST | UK
From Renoir To Kostabi, PLAINS ART MUSEUM FARGO | NORTH DAKOTA | USA
Renoir: The Body, The Senses, CLARK ART INSTITUTE WILLIAMSTOWN | MASSACHUSETTS | USA
2019
Renoir: The Body, The Senses, KIMBELL ART MUSEUM FT. WORTH | TEXAS | USA
Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Their Circle: French Impressionism and the Northwest, TACOMA ART MUSEUM TACOMA | WASHINGTON | USA
Renoir, GALERIE TAMÉNAGA, OSAKA OSAKA | JAPAN
2017
Renoir: Les Études, POLK MUSEUM OF ART LAKELAND | FLORIDA | USA
Renoir and Friends, THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION WASHINGTON D.C. | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | USA
Renoir, GALERIE TAMÉNAGA, TOKYO CHUO-KU | TOKYO | JAPAN
Renoir’s Light, KYOTO CITY KYOCERA MUSEUM OF ART KYOTO | JAPAN
Renoir: Intimacy, BILBAO FINE ARTS MUSEUM BILBAO | SPAIN
2016
Renoir: Intimacy, MUSEO NACIONAL THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA MADRID | SPAIN
2015
Auguste Renoir: Bal du moulin de la Galette. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM ST. PETERSBURG | RUSSIA
2013
Degas, Renoir, and Poetic Pastels, CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM CINCINNATI | OHIO | USA
2011
Passion for Renoir. The Collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain (solo)
Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA;National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2010
Renoir – Tradition and Innovation – NMAO National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka, Japan; The National Art Center Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Late Renoir, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (solo); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (solo)
Masterpieces from the Pola Museum of Art: Impressionists and Ecole de Paris, The Pola Museum of Art, in Sengokuhara, Japan
2009–2010
Renoir au XXe siècle, Galeries nationales, Grand Palais, Paris, France (solo)
2008
Renoir as Printmaker, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA (solo)
2007–2008
Renoir Landscapes, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; National Gallery of Canada – Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa, ON (solo)
2007
Renoir Landscapes 1865-1883, The National Gallery, London, UK (solo)
2003
Journey Through Impressionism, Contessa Gallery, Cleveland, OH (solo)
2001
Renoir: From Outsider to Old Master, 1870-1892, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
1998
Renoir’s Portraits, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (solo)
1997
Renoir Portraits: Impressions of an Age, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (solo)
Renoir’s Portraits: Impressions of an Age, National Gallery of Canada – Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa, ON (solo)
1985
Renoir, MFA – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (solo)
Renoir, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, France (solo)
Renoir, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (solo)
1975
Auguste Renoir, Graphic Work, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI (solo)
1973
Paintings by Renoir, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (solo)
1883
Durand-Ruel Gallery, Paris, France (solo)