Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir
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1841-1919 (78)
Limoges, France
Impressionist
Artworks
• Renoir's paintings are notable for their vibrant
light and saturated color, most often focusing on
people in intimate and candid compositions. The
female nude was one of his primary subjects. In
characteristic Impressionist style, Renoir
suggested the details of a scene through freely
brushed touches of color, so that his figures
softly fuse with one another and their
surroundings.
Artworks
• He and his friend Claude Monet discovered
that the color of shadows is not brown or
black, but the reflected color of the
objects surrounding them. Several pairs of
paintings exist in which Renoir and Monet,
working side-by-side, depicted the same
scenes (La Grenouillère, 1869)
La Grenouillère, 1869, Renoir
La Grenouillère, 1869, Claude Monet
Self portrait, 1910 (59)
Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre (commonly
known as Le Moulin de la Galette),1876 (US 78 million)
Sales history
• Owned by John Hay Whitney, on May 17, 1990, his widow
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sold the painting for US$78 million at Sotheby's in New
York City, New York to Ryoei Saito, the honorary chairman
of Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Company, Japan.
At the time of sale, it was one of the top two most
expensive artworks ever sold, together with van Gogh's
Portrait of Dr Gachet, which was also purchased by Saito.
Saito caused international outrage when he suggested in
1991 that he intended to cremate both paintings with him
when he died.
However, when Saito and his companies ran into severe
financial difficulties, bankers who held the painting as
collateral for loans arranged a confidential sale through
Sotheby's to an undisclosed buyer. Although not known
for certain, the painting is believed to be in the hands of a
Swiss collector.
Top Ten Most Expensive Paintings Sold At Auction
#1 - Garcon a la pipe ($104,168,000)
Painted in 1905 by Pablo Picasso, Garcon a la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe)
became the most expensive painting ever sold at auction when it
was sold in Sotheby's in New York in May 2004.
#2 - Dora Maar au chat ($95,216,000)
This world famous painting - another by Pablo Picasso - was bought
in a Sotheby's auction in May 2006
#3 - Portrait of Adele Bloch-Baur II ($87,936,000)
A 1912 painting by Gustav Klimt
#4 - Portrait du Dr Gachet ($82,500,000)
Painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1890, this is one of two versions
painted by the Dutch artist. It shows van Gogh's doctor Paul Gachet
#5 - Bal au Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre ($78,100,000)
Commonly known as Le Moulin de la Galette, it is an 1876 painting
by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It shows a scene of a
social gathering in the Montmartre district of Paris, France
#6 - Massacre of the Innocents ($75,930,440)
#7 - Portrait de l'Artiste Sans Barbe ($71,502,496)
#8 - Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier ($60,502,500)
#9 - Femme aux Bras Croises ($55,006,000)
#10 - Irises ($53,900,000)
Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880-1881
Girls at the Piano, 1892 - Musée d'Orsay, Paris
After the bath, 1910 (59)
Renoir’s health
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1880 (39), bicycle accident, Rt arm broken
1888 (47), first rheumatoid arthritis attack
1897 (56), another bicycle accident, Rt
arm rebroken
Rheumatoid arthritis
• Massive deformity of multiple joints and
reduced his ability to use his hands
• Reduced his manual dexterity, he lost the
ability to make fine motions with his
fingertips and tended to move the brush
with his forearm and arm, which caused
broader and less detailed depiction of
forms
Treatment
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Move to southern France
Oral antipyrin
Sunshine, walks, massage, baths, spa
Age-related stylistic changes
• Painting with less detail
• Marked preponderance of warm, rich, red
tones
Vines at Cognes, 1908 (67)
Bathers, 1918 (77)
Eye condition
• Jean Renoir’s comments about his father:
He sometimes wore glasses for reading,
but he did so chiefly to save his eyes.
When he was in a hurry, he managed
quite well without them. We liked to sit on
the terrace in the evening and watch
fisherman sailing back to port. He was
always the first to spot a boat