When and where was Pierre-Auguste Renoir born?
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, on the 25th of February 1841. He was born into a family of modest means where his father, Léonard Renoir, worked as a tailor.
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, on the 25th of February 1841. He was born into a family of modest means where his father, Léonard Renoir, worked as a tailor.
A trip to Italy in 1881 showed Pierre-Auguste Renoir the works of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Titian, convincing him to break with the Impressionist movement. He subsequently applied a more disciplined formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women, during what is sometimes referred to as his Ingres period.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir developed progressive deformities in his hands and ankylosis of his right shoulder, requiring him to change his painting technique. He remained able to grasp a brush, although he required an assistant to place it in his hand, and he used a moving canvas or picture roll to facilitate painting large works.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir had three sons: Pierre Renoir, who became a stage and film actor; Jean Renoir, who became a filmmaker of note; and Claude Renoir, who became a ceramic artist. The legacy of the family extended to the next generation, with Jean Renoir's son, Claude Renoir, becoming a filmmaker as well.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir died in Cagnes-sur-Mer on the 3rd of December 1919 at the age of 78. He had moved to the warmer climate of Les Collettes, a farm at the village of Cagnes-sur-Mer, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in 1907 to find relief from his rheumatoid arthritis.
The single largest collection of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's works, 181 paintings in all, is at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, United States. A five-volume catalogue raisonné of Renoir's works, with one supplement, was published by Bernheim-Jeune between 1983 and 2014.