RENOIR : THE MASTER IMPRESSIONIST PAINTER

Renoir was a French painter and a leading artist in development of the painting style known as Impressionism. He was known for painting lovely women, like the young girls seen here playing the piano.

Girls at the Piano, Renoir (1892)

The paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir’s (1841 – 1919) give us the feeling of his favourite subject: depiction of the moment of time, here and now. Being the best loved impressionists he had painted beautiful scenes, pretty children, the flowers, above all lovely women. His brush had the skill for depicting the faces he liked, describing the candid facial features and body stances. He had painted the youthful spirits and intimate charm of the models.

The Artist: Renoir was a master of impressionist style, celebrating beauty from all the elements he might come across. His paintings are notable for vibrant light and saturated colour, focusing on people in candid composition, and fusing the details of a scene through freely brushed touches of colour. Renoir was considered as the leader among the Impressionists. He earned that title for his portrayal of luminous colour, dexterously mixed brushstrokes.

The Art: Young women playing the piano was a recurring and favourite subject for Renoir. If the paintings are the witness of a culture, then the theme of painting young men and women involved in music was given allegorical treatment in French and Dutch art of the by gone ears. But here in this painting The Girls at Piano (1892), Renoir had adopted a different subject, the subject of music. The music and love for the music her in this painting is symbolic image of the middle class culture of contemporary France. The apparent theme of the painting seems depicting the cultivated innocence. It has shown the environment of the middle class people’s domestic comfort; and these factors have strengthened the artist's work. (Images Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Painting Paris: Renoir formed warm sensuality by nuances of light and shadow that his brush strokes put on the canvasses. He had painted streets and roads of the city of Paris, too. He might have taken his brushes, canvases and stock of colours and gone to the open streets to understand daylight and recreate it onto his canvas. Here is a painting where he painted a beautiful scene of Paris.

We can see the play of light here. the brush of impressionist artists were so authentic to put the near-real feel of the atmosphere. The use of blue and mostly the yellow colour help making the painting so wonderfully pleasant.

Theme: Impressionist painters honouring the tonal value of colours

The movement called impressionism in the field of painting got its proper recognition in during the period of second half of nineteenth century. During this very spell of time the invention of photography occurred. It coincided with the new knowledge acquired in the filed of properties of light and colour, too.

The Parisian by Auguste Renoir

Impressionism: Tonal Values of Colours

Look at the painting of a Parisian woman here. From her not-so-costly dress we can assume that she belongs to working class and not the well-to-do one. Renoir might have tried to keep the contrast of the tonal values of colours at minimum; and the painting of warm light all over the frame had helped him in his purpose. The dark bule, possibly cobalt or ultramarine, used with full saturation makes the folds of the dress looking like a sculpture. The presence of visible brush marks help defining the folds and texture of the fabric. It witness the artist’s prowess in using his brushes. In addition to that the presence of flooding light and the bright yellow colour on the woman’s face help infusing the mood of a sunny day.

THE ARTIST: The artist those who were working under the umbrella of impressionism lost no opportunity to use the new developments in the field of science. They made the benefits of the new inventions fruitful for the art of painting, and they used these inventions to help their aesthetic agenda. The artists painting in the impressionist style used their palettes to infuse the feeling of brilliancy in their paintings. They tried painting the element of immediacy with the factor of spontaneity and made their art pieces memorable till the day. (Images courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Renoir, the leader among the Impressionists, had earned the leader's title for his portrayal of luminous colour, dexterously mixed brushstrokes and dexterous use of the tobnal value of the colours. He formed warm sensuality by nuances of light and shadow that his brush strokes put on canvasses. Renoir celebrated beauty of the elements he might come across. His paintings are notable for their vibrant light and saturated colours, focusing on people in candid composition.

RENOIR: PAINTING NATURAL BEAUTY OF WOMEN

Theme: Paintings of Natural beauty, Artistic Female Paintings by Renoir.

Renoir Painting Natural Beauty of Women : There was a time when if a painting adoring natural beauty of a woman were painted, the art critics and viewers felt themselves off-guard. The paintings of a beautiful woman done by Renoir were not the darling of such critics. He had painted many canvases which were subjected to the close scrutiny of critics. They also disliked the movement of impressionism, too, and criticized it as ‘the paint fired onto canvass with a pistol’.

Painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Renoir the Artist : In later phase of his creativity and in the last years of his life also, Renoir had cultivated keen interest in classic art. He had done so while keeping his impressionist brush well in his hands. He thought more about the effect of light. During his last lap of life, he had concentrated on ensuring that how the sunlight would affect the flesh tones. He did experiments with this theory by painting various figurative paintings. A large flock of models were at his disposal. These models working for the artists were eager to be painted and become immortal in the world of art. They have faith on the brush used by the master artist Renoir. That was one of the reasons Renoir was very much affected by the beautiful models who worked for him in his studio. (Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

The Art : Pierre Auguste Renoir, born in the year 1841 and who died in 1919, was a master in the impressionist style. The style had celebrated beauty from whatever sources the artists selected to paint. He had painted several beautiful portraits adoring the charm of the women models sitting before him wearing no clothes. Renoir had always shown grand creativity. There was one specific technical reason for this, too. He paid full attention to the details in his paintings.

Renoir always searched for certain types of beauty in his women models. If he saw a high-breasted woman with heavy bottoms and small head looking like a girl, he would certainly paint that woman. And he got such models very often. One of his models, Gabrielle Renard, had all what he wanted in her body. She was working as a nurse for his minor children.

Bather with Long Hair

If you wish to see the visual narrative; if you want to see the beauty of poetry painted on canvas; then a look at the paintings done by Renoir would be very much entertaining for your eyes. When we look his figurative paintings on a wall of museum, we feel that we are meeting a real person whose beauty is depicted.

The art sellers have made art prints of all of his paintings. These prints are suitable for a household woman's purse, too. People like to decorate their homes with the prints of the paintings by Renoir. Renoir was the painter of the period of impressionism movement; and he was fond of drawing and painting the happy side of the human life. And he was extra careful in selecting the subjects, preferring those who reveal the joyous and carefree-ness of the human life.

But these two painting shown here and many other paintings by Renoir that depicted natural beauty of females are today's invaluable treasure on the earth. [Image Courtesy Pierre-Auguste Renoir [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, and Bather With Long hair, Wikimedia Commons ]

RENOIR: PAINTING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PERSPECTIVE

Theme: Painting with Perspective. Renoir's Style and Theory of Painting

Pierre Auguste Renoir was noted for his radiant, intimate paintings. He was like an orchestra player who would play a tiny piece of imagination to the highest decibel through his speaking canvases. The experienced critics of arts recognized him as one of the most individual painters of his period. In his time, most of the impressionist painters chose ‘landscape’ as their subject.

Young people in the street Oil on canvas 63.5 X 49 cm

Renoir was different in choosing subjects for his canvasses. He was as much interested in painting the single human figure or family group portraits as he was in landscapes. He believed that the effect of light was as important as the form and composition of a painting. Renoir made the style of impressionism more popular. The free movement of the painter’s arm with brush in his hand and eyes on the object, made this style more popular and satisfying for all. In this style of paintings there were more margins for the artist’s point of view and angel of perception to be rendered through a more human and more energetic approach. It was really a treat to catch the changing light and varying ambiance virtually in no time. (Images courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

PAINTING WITH PERSPECTIVE

First understanding of the concept of this perspective drawing or painting came to the Italian artist of 15^th century. This concept was developed in Florence city. And Italian artist, Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) wrote down this principal plainly based on mathematics. The name of the book he wrote was On Painting. We can see the best use of this principle of perspective painting and drawing in the work done by the great artist Leonardo da Vinci.

The concept of horizontal line and vanishing point were made alive on the canvas. The artists after Leonardo da Vinci applied this concept vigorously and more diligently. The Master artist like Renoir would put the focal point or vanishing point where he would prefer to, and would drive the viewers’ eyes to that focal point.

Renoir was a master artist in using the perspective, the linear perspective. The artists work on flat surfaces, and the images painted on would be two dimensional. This technique allows a painter in constructing an appearance that would look just like three dimensional. The invention of this technique has created a whole new culture in the field of art and architecture. It was one of the major revolutionary inventions so far as the European art is concerned. The European artists have used it since fifteenth century.

Steps in Algiers

Look at the painting Steps in Algiers painted by Renoir in the year 1882. If you examine Renoir Steps in Algiers on the right side, you will see that all the diagonal lines appear ascending the steps and focal point is where the steps end. The trees and other objects painted in the background of the painting help viewers’ eyes to be fixed on the focal point. If we start looking at the painting from the upside, we would stop at the end of the staircase, too. This tells us that how Renoir was perfect in painting the perspective he would see from the point he might have been sitting at the time of painting this masterpiece. (Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

RENOIR: THE PAINTER OF HERE AND NOW PERSPECTIVES

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 - 1919) was a French painter, leading the impressionist movement. The painters paint with colours, while Renoir used 'emotions' as one of his colours; his speaking paintings are the witness of this fact. Like other impressionists Renoir also used unusual tonal colors to stir up moods and impressions. Under influence of Impressionism, the recreation of objective reality was discouraged and almost replaced by practice of developing subjective response instead of actual experience.

The Art of Impressionists: Fine Arts generally, found this theory of impressionism more suitable for its somewhat blur and sometime vague objects. The impressionist painters told many things by reflecting light and incomplete forms, crafted through quick range of short strokes of pure and bright colors they kept in their palates.

Immediate visual impression, small strokes, partially modeled shapes, and element of reflected light: these were, perhaps, the main characteristics of the paintings done by the impressionist artists. They generally applied unmixed primary colours and used the element of light and shade dexterously.

Oarsemen at Chatou, 1879 The National Gallery of Art, Washington

While executing a painting, every artist takes care of various themes and their intellectual meanings, too. In case of the impressionist, they care more for ‘visual significance’ and keep that aspect as their main motive. These artists feel happy and satisfied if they can reproduce the on-the-spot effects of the transient effects of sunlight or moonlight on the landscape.

Here in the above painting, the master artist Renoir had used everything he had in his stockpile: he had tried creating here and now effect through the play of colours; and his emotion and impression the scene created in mind. (Images Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Vibrant colours and brushes loaded with coloured brushes were Renoir’s inseparable parts. Here the colours seem to be blurred a little bit. But as a whole, the painting holds an imposing format. Renoir was innovative in his style; and he had always nurtured a desire to paint such an imposing format. The master painter’s skilful handling had made this painting a masterpiece. Renoir had mastery over one theme: painting women. His women have been depicting variety of moods, from modesty to eroticism. This painting "Girl with Straw Hat" is his famous painting depicting a young woman. (Images courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Impressionist Painting, Depicting Life of Nineteenth Cetury's Lifestyle :

This painting, “Bal du Moulin de la Galette”, is considered Renoir’s on of the best artworks. In the year 1877 this painting was first shown at an Impressionists’ exhibitions. Through this painting the master painter artist, Renoir, wanted to paint the atmosphere itself. He wanted conveying all the vivaciousness and joyfulness of the party scene and the partying people.

Renoir had taken the subject of a ‘fun party’ to create an atmosphere of the contemporary Paris. His bias for painting beautiful men and women is seen here. Here the crowd of joyful people are depicted as bathing under a shower of natural and artificial light. It is believed that Renoir’s some of the friends are also in this garden party believed to be held at ‘Butt Montmarte’. Though the artist himself was present in this party, he is not shown among the participants.