French, 1841-1919.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a founding member of the Impressionist movement.  His early works were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light.  Nevertheless he ceased to exhibit with the group after 1877.  From the 1880s until well into the twentieth century, he developed a monumental, classically inspired style that influenced such avant-garde giants as Pablo Picasso.  As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that “Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau.”