Auguste Renoir

Starting out in life as a porcelain painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir met Claude Monet (1840-1926), Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) and Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870) after joining the studio run by the painter Charles Gleyre (1806-1874), and set his hand to plein air painting in their company in the vicinity of the capital. So began “the years of struggle” for these artists, who had a hard time gaining acceptance at the official Salon de Peinture. Renoir finally exhibited at the 1864 Salon and went on to take part in the first two impressionist exhibitions in 1874 and 1876, depicting subjects drawn from contemporary life. He finally found success at the 1879 Salon, have gradually broken away from the impressionist movement. He travelled through Italy in 1881, acquainting himself with Pompeii’s frescoes and Renaissance art and going on to try his hand at more traditional methods and subjects.
The 1890s brought Renoir the fame he deserved. He gained new admirers while being supported by powerful art dealers. From then on, he divided his life between his three residences: in Paris, his house in the village of Essoyes in Aube, and then in the South of France in the early 1900s, where he acquired a property called Les Collettes. Renoir portrayed his family and painted opulent, sculptural women set in luxuriant landscapes, balancing line and color.
Paul Guillaume greatly admired his paintings and conducted a lively trade in them in the 1920s and 1930s. They occupied places of honor in his and Domenica’s successive apartments.

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