Auguste Renoir

"Couple" by Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, born in Limoges, France on December 3, 1841, was a leader in the development of the Impressionist style. His father, a tailor, moved the family to Paris in search of better work opportunities. Living there on rue d'Argenteuil in the central Paris, in close proximity of the Louvre, he spent much time there observing and drawing, but Renoir actually had an even greater talent in singing. However, due to family financial circumstances, he had to discontinue music lessons and leave school at the age of 13 to pursue an apprenticeship at a porcelain factory where he soon grew bored. The owner of the factory noticed his artistic talent, and he was eventually enrolled in art school where he met Alfred Sisley, Frederic Bazille and Claude Monet. In 1890, he married Aline Victorine Charigot, a dressmaker 20 years his junior, who along with a number of the the artist's friends, served as a model for "Luncheon of the Boating Party"; she is the woman on the left playing with the dog. Together they had three sons. Many trips around Europe and exposure to various artists contributed significant influences to his lifelong vocation of painting. Even when stricken with rheumatoid arthritis, Renoir continued to paint. He died in Cagnes-sur-Mer on December 3, 1919 at the age of 78.