Pierre-Auguste Renoir was an artist during the middle 1800s and early 1900s. His early works helped to push what is called Impressionism. The impressionist style of painting is characterized chiefly by concentration on the general impression produced by a scene or object and the use of unmixed primary colors and small strokes to simulate actual reflected light. He used a blending of colors to blur exact detail, but yet left enough to let the viewer see what he was painting.



In one of the copies of his paintings you can tell that there is a woman looking out into a body of water at a boat with people, yet you cannot see exact detail of what she looks like. He seems to be able to capture the feelings of happiness and peacefulness of the situation, and not go overboard with fine details in that painting. Renoir paintings seem to come from the heart. He had the ability to bring out great details in his work, without having to get to details. When he painted kids, he was able to show the innocence of childhood. In the painting called Girls picking flowers in a meadow there are two young girls picking and playing with flowers. He used soft colors and blurred the meadow out. The picture makes its viewer think back to childhood and just how carefree it was. My understanding of the world didn’t go beyond trying to have fun with friends. That piece of art holds your attention for quite a while. You can find happiness inside you that is brought out by the painting. His paintings had a way of making smile and you find yourself looking back at events in your life that make you smile.

The type of painting that Renoir used is called Impressionism. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Impressionism was a form of art that was developed in France during the mid of 1860s. This art form was an attempt to record visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and color. Renoir was one of the front runners in the impressionism movement. The principal Impressionist painters were Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Frederic Bazille, and Armand Guillaumin, who worked together, influenced each other, and exhibited together independently.

When Renoir was in his early 20s, he attended a Swiss art school in Paris. He began learning about the art style of the old masters. Their style dealt with painting in dark colors. Nobody painted the outdoors at that time and the group of artist listed above became the first to do so. They first painted pictures of what they saw at a local lake and a nearby forest. The goal of these paintings was to catch the “impression of the moment." These painters used quick and light brush strokes along with bright contrasting colors to show the effects of light.

"Why shouldn't art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world." This quote was from Renoir when he was asked why he painted what he did paint. If not for Renoir and the other painters of this movement, who knows what art would be like today. They brought color and lasting feelings into the world of art.