The French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was an important member of the Impressionist movement of the nineteenth century. His large body of work includes many portraits of children and women in lively social situations. "Why shouldn't art be pretty?" Renoir quipped. "There are enough unpleasant things in the world."
The beautifully designed Art in the Picture offers a Renoir biography, a few quotes, and most importantly, a gallery. Sorted either by popularity or date, Art in the Picture displays twenty-five Renoir paintings, complete with title, date, and tags, but no annotation. Additional artists are searchable by name, movement, country, century or tag. The tags are fun to explore, and lead to some unique juxtapositions. For example, paintings tagged "bee" include one work by Salvador Dali and another by Albrecht Durer.
With a gallery of over 200 Renoir works, this Expo-Shop site is the largest of today's picks. Best reasons to visit are the versatility of the search function (works can be found by keyword, technique, theme or year), the Renoir biography (which includes links to important works), and the Permanent Exhibitions list. Because most of these ten museums have a good portion of their permanent collections cataloged online, the best way to learn more about Renoir is to visit these websites, and use the museum's on-site search functions to find more Renoir.
"Toward the end of the nineteenth century, many French painters turned their attention to scenes of modern life ... For the two artists featured here, Mary Cassatt and Auguste Renoir, images from the lives of women and children, especially, provided lifelong inspiration." This National Gallery of Art tour brings a true museum experience to the Web. Although this mini-exhibit features only seven paintings, it's the commentary that makes it so valuable. "Perhaps more than the work of any other artist, Renoir's sunlit scenes reflect the joie de vivre that is so appealing in impressionist painting."
This online museum exhibit from London's National Gallery begins with a short Renoir biography. Your next stop should be The Impressionists, a special feature listed as a "Who's Who" Guide. In addition to Renoir, the exhibit includes works by Monet, Degas, Manet, Pissarro and Cezanne. Returning to the original biography page, you'll find twelve more of Renoir's paintings listed in the right-hand column, each with an excellent description.
"Celebrated for his portraits and nudes, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) is most often associated with figure painting. He was also a lover of nature, however, and an accomplished painter of landscapes." Be sure to read the articles exploring themes in Renoir's landscape paintings such as gardens and cityscapes, and listen to curator John Zarobell's two-part audio podcast. "The paintings on view in this exhibition reveal the subtlety of touch; vaporous effects; and lush, full-blown color that mark Renoir as one of the most audacious and original landscape artists of his age."
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or try a FREE trial of the Printables ClubThe following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Guggenheim Hermitage Museum - RenoirHow Stuff Works: Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Pierre-Auguste RenoirWebMuseum: Renoir |
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