Musée No:792.050
Regular price £25.00Roses in a Vase
Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Date: 1890
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) left school at age thirteen to work as an apprentice painter in a porcelain factory. He also earned money by painting fans, blinds, and murals for cafés. In 1861 he entered the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met Bazille, Monet and Sisley. Monet then introduced him to the dealer Durand-Ruel, who began purchasing his works. Renoir's submissions to the Salon were regularly refused, which encouraged him to participate in the first impressionist exhibition in 1874 where his works were mocked by the critics. However, by 1900 Renoir was an established artist and became Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Four years later the Salon d'Automne had a gallery devoted to his works.
He once said, "'Painting flowers lets my brain rest. It does not cause the same tension of spirit as when I face a model. When I paint flowers, I put down tones, I boldly try values, without having to worry about losing a canvas.'"
He was the head of a dynasty of artists in one form or another – his sons Pierre, Jean & Claude were respectively an actor, a film maker and a ceramic artist. His grandson (son of Pierre) was the French film director and film maker Claude Renoir and his great grandson Alexandre a professional artist whose exhibition in Tennessee “Beauty Remains” takes its title from a famous quote by Pierre-Auguste. Famously when asked why he continued to paint in spite of his awful arthritis he said "The pain passes, but the beauty remains."