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From the age of thirteen he worked as an apprentice painter at Paris, painting on porcelain wares (plates, cups, and vases). In 1860, Renoir was admitted as an authorized copier in the [[Louvre]]. He made his first attempts at painting by studying the works of Rubens and Fragonard.[http://www.accents-n-art.com/artists/pierre-auguste-renoir-biography.html] In 1862 Renoir began studying art under [[Charles Gleyre]] in [[Paris]] and there he met [[Claude Monet]], [[Alfred Sisley]] and [[Jean-Frédéric Bazille]]. Masters, particularly those of the 18th century, like [[Jean-Antoine Watteau|Antoine Watteau]], [[François Boucher]] and [[Jean-Honoré Fragonard]], influenced his own painting throughout his career. He studied the art of this masters visiting the Louvre. Finding a new inspiration in nature, he, as other impressionist artists, displayed vibrant light and color instead of the somber blacks that had dominated previous painting. [[Gustave Courbet]] and [[Camille Corot]] had also an important influence in his work. In 1881, he traveled to Algeria, Spain and Italy; he met [[Titian]]'s masterpieces in Florence and the paintings of [[Raphael]] in Rome, and Venice conquered him in a way that he will evoke in several canvases. His nude artworks allude simultaneously to the snudes of [[Rubens]] and [[Jean-Honoré Fragonard]]. Renoir started a nude in 1850, "Reclining Nude", and painted the last one in 1919, "The Bathers".

From the age of thirteen he worked as an apprentice painter at Paris, painting on porcelain wares (plates, cups, and vases). In 1860, Renoir was admitted as an authorized copier in the [[Louvre]]. He made his first attempts at painting by studying the works of Rubens and Fragonard.[http://www.accents-n-art.com/artists/pierre-auguste-renoir-biography.html] In 1862 Renoir began studying art under [[Charles Gleyre]] in [[Paris]] and there he met [[Claude Monet]], [[Alfred Sisley]] and [[Jean-Frédéric Bazille]]. Masters, particularly those of the 18th century, like [[Jean-Antoine Watteau|Antoine Watteau]], [[François Boucher]] and [[Jean-Honoré Fragonard]], influenced his own painting throughout his career. He studied the art of this masters visiting the Louvre. Finding a new inspiration in nature, he, as other impressionist artists, displayed vibrant light and color instead of the somber blacks that had dominated previous painting. [[Gustave Courbet]] and [[Camille Corot]] had also an important influence in his work. In 1881, he traveled to Algeria, Spain and Italy; he met [[Titian]]'s masterpieces in Florence and the paintings of [[Raphael]] in Rome, and Venice conquered him in a way that he will evoke in several canvases. His nude artworks allude simultaneously to the snudes of [[Rubens]] and [[Jean-Honoré Fragonard]]. Renoir started a nude in 1850, "Reclining Nude", and painted the last one in 1919, "The Bathers".

[[File:Renoir, Blonde a la rose, ca. 1916 a.jpg|thumb|220px|Blonde à la rose, Andrée, ca. 1916.]]  

[[File:Renoir, Blonde a la rose, ca. 1916 a.jpg|thumb|220px|Blonde à la rose, Andrée, ca. 1916.]]  

Renoir was a prolific painter with more than 4,000 paintings. Some art historians consider the following periods in Renoir's artworks: <big>"The beginnings"</big> 1858-1869 (e.g. "Crown of Roses", ca. 1858... his initial paintings show the influence of the colorism of [[Eugene Delacroix|Eugène Delacroix]]... exhibitions at the Salon de Paris, and the Salon des Refusés... Renoir once said "''my hero was Díaz''" for [[Narcisse Diaz de la Peña]], a member of the [[Barbizon School]]... In the forest of Fontainebleau, in 1863, Renoir met the Bordeaux painter Narcisse Diaz who advised him to lighten his palette... [http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-artists/renoir.htm] In 1863 he met [[Paul Cézanne]] and [[Camille Pissarro]] introduced by Bazille. Cézanne and Pissarro had first met two years previously, at the Atelier Suisse); <big>"Impressionism"</big> 1869-1878 (In 1869, Renoir painted alongside Monet at La Grenouillère... their sketch like technique of broad, loose brushstrokes and their brightened palette attempted to capture the effects of the sun streaming through the trees on the rippling water. This painting campaign catalyzed the development of the Impressionist aesthetic... [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/augu/hd_augu.htm] In the forest of Fontainebleau, Renoir, Monet, Bazille and Sisley painted together and experimented in light, color, water, and form); <big>"dry"</big> or <big>"Ingres period"</big> (he called his ''maniere aigre'') from 1881 to 1888 (a more decorative and traditional style... where drawing took precedence over colour and his painting shows a sharper definition of form [http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-artists/renoir.htm])... e.g. " Les Parapluies" ("The Umbrellas") (ca. 1879), "Le Déjeuner des Canotiers" ("The Luncheon of the Boating Party") (1880-1881), "Les Grandes Baigneuses" (1884-1887); <big>"the pearly period"</big> after 1890 until 1897, (Renoirs work moved in a new direction yet again... he returned to using thin brush strokes and became less concerned with outlines... epic nudes and domestic scenes); <big>"late career"</big> early twentieth century (style changed again and he opted for stronger colors - often reds and oranges - and thick brush strokes... the female nude was a favorite subject of Renoirs and he depicted details of the scene through freely-brushed spots of color which fused his figures and their surroundings... [http://www.artble.com/artists/pierre-auguste_renoir/more_information/style_and_technique]. The Rubenesque nudes he had been painting reached a level of unprecedented exaggeration in the twentieth century, culminating in the massive Bathers at the Musée d'Orsay "The Bathers"). [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/augu/hd_augu.htm]

Renoir was a prolific painter with more than 4,000 paintings. Some art historians consider the following periods in Renoir's artworks: <font size="3">"The beginnings"</font> 1858-1869 (e.g. "Crown of Roses", ca. 1858... his initial paintings show the influence of the colorism of [[Eugene Delacroix|Eugène Delacroix]]... exhibitions at the Salon de Paris, and the Salon des Refusés... Renoir once said "''my hero was Díaz''" for [[Narcisse Diaz de la Peña]], a member of the [[Barbizon School]]... In the forest of Fontainebleau, in 1863, Renoir met the Bordeaux painter Narcisse Diaz who advised him to lighten his palette... [http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-artists/renoir.htm] In 1863 he met [[Paul Cézanne]] and [[Camille Pissarro]] introduced by Bazille. Cézanne and Pissarro had first met two years previously, at the Atelier Suisse); <font size="3">"Impressionism"</font> 1869-1878 (In 1869, Renoir painted alongside Monet at La Grenouillère... their sketch like technique of broad, loose brushstrokes and their brightened palette attempted to capture the effects of the sun streaming through the trees on the rippling water. This painting campaign catalyzed the development of the Impressionist aesthetic... [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/augu/hd_augu.htm] In the forest of Fontainebleau, Renoir, Monet, Bazille and Sisley painted together and experimented in light, color, water, and form); <font size="3">"dry"</font> or <font size="3">"Ingres period"</font> (he called his ''maniere aigre'') from 1881 to 1888 (a more decorative and traditional style... where drawing took precedence over colour and his painting shows a sharper definition of form [http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-artists/renoir.htm])... e.g. " Les Parapluies" ("The Umbrellas") (ca. 1879), "Le Déjeuner des Canotiers" ("The Luncheon of the Boating Party") (1880-1881), "Les Grandes Baigneuses" (1884-1887); <font size="3">"the pearly period"</font> after 1890 until 1897, (Renoirs work moved in a new direction yet again... he returned to using thin brush strokes and became less concerned with outlines... epic nudes and domestic scenes); <font size="3">"late career"</font> early twentieth century (style changed again and he opted for stronger colors - often reds and oranges - and thick brush strokes... the female nude was a favorite subject of Renoirs and he depicted details of the scene through freely-brushed spots of color which fused his figures and their surroundings... [http://www.artble.com/artists/pierre-auguste_renoir/more_information/style_and_technique]. The Rubenesque nudes he had been painting reached a level of unprecedented exaggeration in the twentieth century, culminating in the massive Bathers at the Musée d'Orsay "The Bathers"). [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/augu/hd_augu.htm]

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