RENOIR, Pierre Auguste (1841-1919)
Auguste Renoir was initially trained in the decorative arts and began studying painting in the early 1860s. It was as a student that Renoir met several other painters interested in the plein-air painting and the effects of light. When these Impressionists began to exhibit together a decade later, Renoir suffered some of the most severe criticism aimed at them.

While controversial at first, Renoir had eventually established himself comfortably with the public and was even participating in the official Salons. By 1880, he also began concentrating on painting the female figure.

A trip to Italy in 1881-1882 exposed him to Raphael, and his work for the rest of that decade, with its restrained brushwork and empathetic modeling of subjects, reflected that Italian influence. Renoir reverted to a modified version of his original freely brushed and brightly colored style after 1890.

Spending his last year in the South of France, Renoir came to epitomize the practice of Impressionism simply as a style, long after its sting as a movement had worn off.