Pierre Auguste Renoir

Pierre Auguste Renoir's paintings place the human figure at the center of a practice that includes portraits, leisure scenes, landscapes, and still lifes. Working alongside Monet on the Seine in 1869 encouraged lighter color and an interest in reflections and outdoor light. Portrait commissions and social gatherings required more deliberately arranged groups, with dress, gestures, and exchanges of glances connecting individual sitters. After visiting Italy in 1881, Renoir gave renewed attention to contour and the construction of bodies, drawing on his study of earlier European painting. The Umbrellas preserves different stages of that change within one canvas, combining feathery color on the right with more clearly bounded figures on the left. Luncheon of the Boating Party brings portraiture, still life, and landscape into a single social setting. His work therefore involves changing methods as well as recurring subjects, rather than one unchanging Impressionist style.