Download The Life and Legacy of Renoir: History's Greatest Artists AudioBook Free
Pierre-Auguste Renoir stands alongside Claude Monet at the top of Impressionist painting, and though neither of them can be acknowledged with founding the movement (that honor likely would go to Edouard Manet or Edgar Degas), Renoir and Monet remain inextricably linked with the key characteristics of Impressionism: loose brushwork; outdoor painting; an emphasis on capturing day light and darkness; and a focus on staying in Paris and the surrounding countryside. Yet if Monet and Renoir are each kept in mind because of their affiliation with these descriptors, distinctions nevertheless distinguish them, especially the actual fact that Renoir focused less on dynamics than performed Monet, attending instead to views depicting Parisian leisure activity. This thematic concern for depicting views of idyllic Parisian enjoyment, such as rowing in motorboats or grand luncheons, imbues Renoir with a larger sense of joie-de-vivre than Monet or simply any of the other participants of the Impressionist cohort. Even though Renoir's art stocks much in common along with his Impressionist fellow workers, both his handling of coloring and even his subject matter contain significant distinctions that render him truly unique as a painter.
