Renoir

= Renoir = Paris  7th arrondissement   Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist that lived from 1841 to 1919. As a kid he grew up in Paris, France near The Louvre inspired by art. At 13 he was the apprentice to a porcelain painter where he learned art by decorating plates and other dishes. Renoir spent as much time as possible at The Louvre studying French masters, such as Fragonard and Boucher. In 1861 he entered Ecole de Beaux-Arts, a famous art school, in the Charles Gleyre workshop. There he met Monet, Sisley, and Bazille, and through them Cezanne and Pissarro. He worked alongside Monet most of his career, learning much. In 1864 he won acceptance into the annual Paris Salon exhibit. Though he was obtaining much portrait commissions and continued exhibiting regularly at the Salon, Renoir still struggled to make a living at times. Throughout the start of his career he had no fixed address. He stayed and worked with his fellow artists who he had befriended. He had many supporters of his work who also helped support his living. In 1870, he had to take a break from painting when he was drafted into the army during France’s war against Germany. He became apart of the cavalry though he never saw action in war because he became ill with dysentery. He returned to his artwork soon after and took part in the first three Impressionists’ exhibitions with Pissarro, Monet, Cezanne and Degas. These exhibitions turned out to be not so successful, though Renoir seemed to have the most success of them all. Many of his paintings concentrated on human figures in luminous colors, mainly female nudes because he was entranced by the play of light on the glowing, healthy skin. During the early 1880s Renoir took some inspirational journeys to Algeria, Italy, and South France. In 1890 he married his long term girlfriend Aline Charigot. They had three sons who continued to be the focus of many of Renoir’s paintings. He bought land in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France for his family to live. Starting in the mid-1890s till the rest of his life, Renoir suffered from Rheumatism. He was crippled and barely able to paint, but he would strap the brush to his wrist to continue his love of art. In 1912 he had a stroke resulting being put in a wheelchair. He tried sculpting for a while with help from his assistants. Renoir gladly lived long enough to see his lifelong dream accomplished, one of his works of art being put into The Louvre in 1919. Today many of his pieces are found in art museums all over the world. Many in The Louvre. In all, Renoir was an uncomplicated man who had his share of hardship in the early days of his career but in all enjoyed life with all its beauty. He had a down-to-earth attitude about art which inspired greatness. Renoir has created over 200 works of art and has been an inspiration to many artists and had a big impact on Paris and France.