50 Fun Facts About Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Which art movement is Renoir most associated with?

He showed six paintings at the First Impressionist Exhibition in April 1874.

In which French city was Renoir born in 1841?

His tailor father moved the family to Paris in 1844, a short walk from the Louvre.

Which of Renoir's sons became a celebrated film director?

He made La Grande Illusion and The Rules of the Game; brother Pierre was an actor, Claude a ceramicist.

At what age did Renoir leave school to apprentice at a porcelain factory?

His singing teacher had been the composer Charles Gounod, then choirmaster at St Roch.

Under which teacher did Renoir study in 1862, meeting Monet, Sisley and Bazille?

Gleyre's Paris studio was the incubator of the Impressionist circle.

Which painting gave Renoir his first Salon success in 1868?

The model, Lise Tréhot, was his lover and also posed for Diana the year before.

Which Paris museum houses Bal du moulin de la Galette?

It passed to the state as death duties from Caillebotte, then hung in the Luxembourg and the Louvre.

In which Paris district is the Moulin de la Galette of Renoir's 1876 painting?

Working-class Parisians dressed up on Sundays to dance, drink and eat galettes there.

Who bought the smaller Bal du moulin de la Galette for $78 million in 1990?

The Japanese paper magnate caused outrage by suggesting he would be cremated with it and his Van Gogh.

Which Washington museum holds Luncheon of the Boating Party?

Duncan Phillips chased it for a decade and paid $125,000 in 1923.

At which restaurant on the Seine is Luncheon of the Boating Party set?

It stood in Chatou; the proprietor's daughter Alphonsine leans on the railing in the picture.

Which future wife of Renoir plays with a small dog in Luncheon of the Boating Party?

The dressmaker from Essoyes married him in 1890; the dog is an affenpinscher.

Which painter-patron sits backwards in a chair in Luncheon of the Boating Party?

An avid boatman himself, he wears a white boater's shirt and a flat straw hat.

Which Veronese banquet scene is thought to have shaped Luncheon of the Boating Party?

It hung in the Louvre, where the young Renoir spent hours escaping the porcelain works.

Which Boston institution owns Dance at Bougival?

It is one of three Dance pictures commissioned by Paul Durand-Ruel in early 1883.

Which model, later a major painter, probably posed for Dance at Bougival?

A former trapeze artist, she studied the techniques of the painters she sat for.

Which disease crippled Renoir's hands in his final decades?

He could still grasp a brush; the bandages in late photos were to prevent skin irritation.

In which Riviera village did Renoir buy the farm Les Collettes?

He moved there in 1907 for the warm climate and died there in December 1919.

Which young sculptor worked the clay for Renoir's late sculptures?

Renoir directed him while too arthritic to model himself, including the bust for Aline's grave.

How many minutes did Renoir take to paint Richard Wagner's portrait in 1882?

They met at Wagner's home in Palermo on 15 January 1882.

On which Channel Island did Renoir paint fifteen pictures in summer 1883?

Most show Moulin Huet bay; the island issued commemorative stamps of them in 1983.

Which American collection holds the most Renoirs, 181 paintings?

Albert Barnes built his Philadelphia-area hoard in the early 20th century.

Renoir's disciplined 1880s style is sometimes named after which earlier French painter?

Italy and Raphael convinced him 'I could neither paint nor draw'; The Large Bathers came from this period.

Which US city's art museum owns The Large Bathers of 1884–87?

It is the summit of his severe, outline-driven 'Ingres period'.

Which painter's 1879 Salon success featured Mme Charpentier and her children?

The society portrait made him fashionable and led to patron Paul Bérard that same year.

What did Renoir reportedly say when asked why he kept painting despite his arthritis?

His great-grandson Alexandre titled a 2018 exhibition 'Beauty Remains' after it.

Who was the Commune leader who saved Renoir from being thrown into the Seine in 1871?

Communards took the painter for a spy until Rigault recognised a man who had once protected him.

With whom did Renoir paint side by side at La Grenouillère in 1869?

Together they found that shadows take the reflected colour of nearby objects, not brown or black.

Which London institution owns The Umbrellas as part of the Lane Bequest?

It alternates with Dublin's Hugh Lane gallery and spent 2013–2019 in Ireland.

What did X-rays show the left-hand woman in The Umbrellas originally wore?

Renoir reworked her around 1885 into a plainer working-class modiste carrying a hatbox.

Which US museum holds Two Sisters (On the Terrace)?

Annie Swan Coburn paid $100,000 in 1925 and bequeathed it in 1932.

Which dealer gave Two Sisters its alternative title On the Terrace?

He bought it on 7 July 1881 for 1,500 francs; Renoir himself called it Les Deux Sœurs.

Who is the man on the swing-side in The Swing, alongside model Jeanne Samary?

Painter Norbert Goeneutte is the other figure; Caillebotte bought the picture in 1877.

In which Paris garden, a museum site since 1960, did Renoir paint The Swing?

He rented a cottage there to be near the Moulin de la Galette he was painting at the same time.

In which Aube village was Renoir's wife Aline born to a grape-growing family?

The Renoirs bought a house there in 1896, and her remains were later moved there.

In what year did Renoir marry Aline, mother of his son Pierre?

Their first son Pierre was already five; Jean arrived in 1894 and Claude in 1901.

Who was Gabrielle Renard, a frequent subject of Renoir's family scenes?

She was Aline's cousin and appears in countless late canvases.

Which Jean Renoir film was the first foreign-language nominee for Best Picture?

Starring Gabin and von Stroheim, it was banned in Germany and later Italy.

What character did Jean Renoir himself play in The Rules of the Game?

His line 'everyone has his reasons' became the film's motto; it flopped in 1939.

Jean Renoir's The River (1951) was the first colour film shot in which country?

Cinematographer Claude was the son of actor Pierre, the painter's eldest boy.

Which honour did Jean Renoir receive from the Academy in 1975?

In 2002 Sight & Sound ranked him the fourth greatest director ever.

Which newspaper's 1876 critic likened a Renoir nude's torso to decomposing flesh?

The critic objected to 'purplish green stains' that suggested a corpse.

Which Renoir offered at auction in 2012 had been stolen from Baltimore in 1951?

The sale was cancelled once the theft was discovered.

Which dealer published La Vie et l'Œuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1919?

His heirs began reprinting the etched copper plates in 1986.

In which country did Renoir convalesce from pneumonia in 1882?

He associated the country with Delacroix and had visited the year before.

Which painter's rural property near Fontainebleau did Renoir lose access to in 1874?

The end of a ten-year friendship cost him a favourite painting location and changed his subjects.

Whom did Renoir travel to Madrid to study in 1881?

The same trip took him to Titian in Florence and Raphael in Rome.

Who was the main patron who hosted Renoir at the Château de Wargemont in Normandy?

They met in 1879, the year Renoir became fashionable.

How old was Renoir when he died in 1919?

Earlier that year he visited the Louvre to see his own paintings hung with the old masters.

Who identified the sitters in Luncheon of the Boating Party in 1912?

The cast includes actress Ellen Andrée and a former mayor of colonial Saigon.