Renoir the Greatest Impressionist

Impressionist movement is an important period in art history. Many scholars suggest that the
movement marked the start of the Modern art era. Among the Impressionist are many masters of
paintings and art, for instance Manet, Degas, Monet, Pissarro etc. Goodrich, renowned art
historian, stated in his article Renoir that: Pierre Auguste Renoir was the greatest of the
French Impressionists, and one of the greatest artists that France has ever produced (qtd. 177).
Renoir is famous for the happiness and nature shown in his painting and his style as an
Impressionist and beyond. He is not only a fine artist, but also a kind man in his personal life.
These characteristics make him one of the best artist in the world.
Renoir's painting emotes a strong sense of happiness and nature. From his point of view, life is
always full of hope, freshness and sweetness from the nature (Goodrich 178). In Le Dejeuner
Des Canotiers, the painter shows the beauty of life and the things that we have (Renoirs
Masterpiece 65). Renoir choses to paint this painting in grand and luscious style, his very own
style, to express joy of the present moment. (Renoirs Masterpiece 65) The painter
communicates the idea of liveliness and flow of the art not only through the moment that is
painted down on the canvas, but also the painter's piece of mind when presenting the moment
(Renoirs Masterpiece 65). Color is very important in the philosophy of Impressionism, and
Renoir is a master of colors which he uses perfectly to pass his message about nature and
happiness. He is known as one of the best colorist in the era of Modern art (Goodrich 178).
Renoir's color has a tremendous variety, from the subtlest changes to a strong force, but the
colors are always clear and new, never become annoying (Goodrich 178). Renoir is neither an
artist that focused on the realistic aspect of the painting or making it ideal (Morrison 204). His

color choices make his painting peaceful and harmonious as well as creative (Morrison 204). In
many works by Renoir, he places his subjects under the tree and focuses on the effects of light
passing through the leaves that reflects or lands on the body of the subject (Rewald 386). With
his strong and powerful usage of colors, his subjects become a thing that would represent the
lively effects of dancing light and shades which changes the form of the subject and made it
more lively and vivid (Rewald 386). The painter mentioned that when he looks at the nudes, he
saw many tiny shades of different colors (Elger 30). Renoir also has a positive personality and
feels strongly about the fact that art should bring people joy which is the reason why he produces
canvas after canvas of fine work that would bring happiness whoever the viewer is. He states
that: "For me a picture must always be something lovable, pleasurable, and pretty, yes,
something pretty. There are enough unpleasant things in the world; we do not have to produce
any more." (qtd. Elger 43) His up lifting personality and attitude toward life, his special focus on
the atmosphere and socializing as well as his great command of colors create the happiness and
sense of nature that he was known for.

Renoir was different from many of his Impressionist peers. In the group of Impressionist who
focus on the effect of sunlight which mainly deals with landscape, Renoir's interest in human
subject made him unique in the group (Allen 109). Renoir was the only Impressionist with the
exception of Degas that exhibited interest in depicting nudes throughout his career (Ripoelle 6).
Like many earlier French artist, Renoir follows the tradition of honoring the elegance of women,
but he embraces their beauty in a style of the 19th century that was completely different form the
painters before him (Allan 110). In his pictures of women, Renoir creates a mixture of happiness
and the utmost sense of beauty which made people recall afterwards (Greenberg 178). Even

though the original purpose of the Impressionist Movement is to rebel against the Salon by
promoting a new form of art, Renoir is one of the few Impressionist that later was accepted by
the Salon for his artistic abilities. After his painting The Cup of Coffee was accepted by the Salon
in 1878, he submits more pictures to the Salon and did not participate in the fourth, fifth and
sixth, Impressionist exhibition (Pool 157). Even though he never exhibited in the Salon after
1883 except in 1890, Renoir was credited by the autumn Salon and was given an entire gallery
(Renoirs Masterpiece 66). Renoir experienced changes in his paintings style which let him do
art beyond Impressionism. His painting Umbrellas illustrates this change in his painting style.
It was well known that the painting Umbrellas by Renoir is done in two different stages: the first
one around 1881 and the second one around 1885. The two layers of paint shows dramatic
stylistic change that Renoir underwent in the mid-1880s (Roy 73-79). As he grows older, he
cares less about the ideas that the Impressionists stand upon but more to the nature qualities of
the subject (Goodrich 179). Many traditional artist and art critic of 19 century France would
think that Impressionists were poor in skill because of their method of painting, but to their
surprise, Renoir was one of the artist that was advanced in his painting abilities comparing to
many artists of his time. In many aspects, Renoir is the most skilled painter in the impressionist
group. He uses loose, soft brush-stroke and more tenderness and patter unity than many of the
prominent artists of the group. These special painting styles give him advantage when he is
painting light and skin of young women (Pool 152). He is more than a painter, and he also does
sculptures when his hands are crippled and cannot paint any longer. Five bronze sculptures is
made between 1914 and 1916 under the instructions of Renoir. Renoir was an Impressionist, but
he is unique among them and have done so much more.

Despite many hardships, Renoir is successful and respected as a gentleman. Even though he dies
as one of the most popular artist in France, he experienced many hardships in his early career as
a painter. Renoir, the son of a poor tailor, starts to support himself at the age of thirteen by
painting china, and finally, he is able to get enough money for himself to go to art school.
(Goodrich 178) During the days when the style of his painting is not accepted by the public,
Renoir collects the paint tubes used by other students to use the paint left (Elger 21). Even when
he is an old man, he still loved art so much he never gives it up for a single moment of his life.
Once when Renoir is waiting to be operated in a hospital, he asks his wife to bring him canvas
and brushes, and he paints the flowers his friends sent him until he entered the operating room
(Goodrich 180). In the memoir published by Renoir's son, he recalls that even during the time his
father's hand was crippled with pain due to illness, he still continuous produces lovely and lively
image depicting the positivity of life (Ripoelle 5). During his late days, his hand becomes so
deformed that he had to tied his brushes to his hand to continue painting (Goodrich 180). Renoir
is not only known for his art skills and paintings; he is also a nice man. Renoir treats his models
as friends rather than people he hired. He lets them gossip and chat with dressmakers while
posing for him and establishes close relationships with them. The lively expression is viewed by
Renoir as part of their beauty (Rewald 405). Many of his friends appear in his paintings, and they
also pose for him. Monet, a fellow Impressionist, is in his painting as an artist working in
Renoir's garden (Pool 405). Renoir was not only a great artist, also a great man. He lived a hard
life when he was young and suffered from illness when he was finally famous, but he was always
nice to the people around him and keep producing art that would bring people happiness.

As an early member of the Impressionist movement, Renoir has a unique philosophy and ideals

towards art. Renoir has always been a pioneer Impressionist, and his painting in his early career
has always embraces the style and philosophy of Impressionism. One of the most important
aspect of the style of the Impressionist are their ways to paint color and light. As a result, shapes,
contours and lines act as a support to the colors. It is a great innovation in art history, but it also
shocked many people of the time (Elger 30). Impressionist artist not only show nature in their
paintings, but also summarize and abstract from what they perceive. This new method and style
of painting lead to many other future developments in art history (Pool 151). Many of the works
display Renoir's gift of bring together and giving a pattern to his work that have a large numbers
of people and use the effect of light passing through the leaves. (Pool 151). Impressionist worked
on the scenes in everyday life rather than the old, traditional figures in history or religious
stories. They painted the life of middle or lower class people in normal places and regard those
ordinary things as art worthy (Elger 28). Renoir loves to paint people in their everyday life. He
painted Monet, a fellow impressionist, painting in his garden; a lovely lady playing the piano; the
young lady arranging her ear rings and more (Allan 112). Renoir always uses his paintings to
rebel against the rigid form of art in the 19th century, and in the end, his style of painting was
finally accepted by the public and was able to be a part of the Salons exhibition. He works with
ordinary people rather than mythological and religious scene and also focuses on painting in the
nature rather than in the dark studio. To fight against the academic style of the Salon, Renoir and
a group of young artist paint everyday scenes instead of religious and historical stories. They use
bright colors in paintings had gone for years due to the dark indoor studio of the academic world
and walk into everyday life and captured the diversified colors of nature and put them down on
their canvas (Goodrich 177). A friend from the Salon once tells Renoir that he has to force
himself to paint sometimes, Renoir says that when he is painting he would let himself go just like

a cork in the river that was carried around by the current (Goodrich 179). The Impressionist not
only affected the way artists work worldwide but also shown the upper-class a new and modern
way of painting and viewing the world around them (Elger, 17).

Even though Renoir is known as a great artist, there is also many criticisms about him. Because
of special interest in painting female nudes many people criticize him for not respecting women
(Grab 7). However, due to his artistic abilities and the impact he made on Impressionism and
modern art, he is often regard as one the best artist of the 19 th century. The happiness and nature
that is conveyed in his paintings, his philosophies that makes him one of the pioneer artists of his
time regardless they are the same or different from the ideas of the Impressionists, as well as his
uplifting personality make him the greatest artist of the Impressionist movement.

I pledge that I have neither given nor receive aid on this assignment except Ms. McGroarty
helped me to edit the paper. Katy He

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