Pierre-Auguste Renoir

1841 – 1919 · died at about 78^[1][2]

Art

Fun Facts About Pierre-Auguste Renoir

• Pierre-Auguste Renoir showed more talent for singing than drawing as a boy, encouraged by composer Charles Gounod, but at 13 he left school to apprentice at a porcelain factory.^[1]
• During the Paris Commune in 1871, Communards mistook Renoir for a spy and nearly threw him into the Seine, until a Commune leader he had once protected recognized him.^[1]
• Renoir met the composer Richard Wagner in Palermo in 1882 and painted his portrait in just thirty-five minutes.^[1][3][4]
• The story that the arthritic Renoir painted with a brush strapped to his fingers is wrong: he could still grasp a brush, but needed an assistant to place it in his hand.^[1]
• Painting outdoors with Claude Monet, Renoir discovered that shadows are not brown or black but take on the colors of the objects around them.^[1][5][6]
• Renoir was the father of the filmmaker Jean Renoir, the actor Pierre Renoir and the ceramic artist Claude Renoir.^[1]
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir was alive at the same time as Nelson Mandela — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1918–1919).^[1][2][7][8]
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir shares a birthday with George Harrison: both were born on February 25.^{[1][2][9][10]}

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. It has been said that, as a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."^[1]

Contemporaries

Andrew Carnegie

78 yr overlap

John D. Rockefeller

78 yr overlap

Claude Monet

78 yr overlap

Sarah Bernhardt

75 yr overlap

Harriet Tubman

72 yr overlap

Thomas Edison

72 yr overlap

Alexander Graham Bell

72 yr overlap

Florence Nightingale

69 yr overlap

Leo Tolstoy

69 yr overlap

Mark Twain

69 yr overlap

Antoni Gaudí

67 yr overlap

Dmitri Mendeleev

66 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Pierre-Auguste Renoir

When was Pierre-Auguste Renoir born?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on February 25, 1841, and died on December 3, 1919.

How old was Pierre-Auguste Renoir at death?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on February 25, 1841, and died on December 3, 1919, at age 78.

What was Pierre-Auguste Renoir known for?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was known for: Impressionist painter of joyful scenes. Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. It has been said that, as a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."

Who was alive at the same time as Pierre-Auguste Renoir?

Pierre-Auguste Renoir's closest contemporary was Andrew Carnegie. Their lives overlapped for 78 years.