Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was a French painter and one of the founders of Impressionism. He began as a porcelain painter in Paris and met Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille in Charles Gleyre's studio. With Monet he painted on the Seine at Bougival; his festive scenes of Parisian leisure, such as Bal du moulin de la Galette (1876) and Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881), are icons of Impressionism. After a journey to Italy he sought more form and line in the 1880s. In later life he lived in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where he kept painting despite rheumatism, mainly women, nudes and children.