Renoir

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841 – 1919) is one of the last representatives of a tradition that runs directly from Rubens to Watteau. The French artist was a leading painter of the Impressionist art movement, famed for depicting female beauty and charming scenes. Coming from humble beginnings, he became an apprentice to a porcelain painter where he learned to copy designs and using imitation as his learning tool. After the family moved to Paris, the young Renoir had the chance to study and copy the masterpieces hanging at the Louvre. His talent allowed him to enter the famous art school Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he met other emerging talents like Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley.

He was a founding member of the Impressionist movement. However, he ceased to exhibit with the group and starting in the 1880s, he developed a monumental, classically inspired style influencing many other artists like Pablo Picasso.