1841–1919

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges and trained as a porcelain painter before studying in Paris. A founding member of the Impressionist group, he showed at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. He is known for luminous scenes of Parisian leisure, such as Bal du moulin de la Galette (1876), and for portraits of women and children. In later years, despite severe rheumatoid arthritis, he kept painting in the south of France, where he died in 1919.

Where to see Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Art Institute of Chicago (7 works); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (5 works); National Gallery of Art (10 works); Städel Museum (2 works).

Public-domain works: Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881; Alfred Sisley, 1876; Lucie Berard (Child in White), 1883; Jean Renoir Sewing, 1899–1900; Madame Léon Clapisson, 1883; Woman at the Piano, 1875–76; By the Seashore, 1883; Young Woman (La Servante), ca. 1875; Jeanne Samary, 1878; Madame Henriot, c. 1876; After the Luncheon, 1879; Reading Girl, 1880; Madame Georges Charpentier (Marguerite-Louise Lemonnier, 1848–1904) and Her Children, Georgette-Berthe (1872–1945) and Paul-Emile-Charles (1875–1895), 1878; Tilla Durieux (Ottilie Godeffroy, 1880–1971), 1914; Marguerite-Thérèse (Margot) Berard (1874–1956), 1879; A Girl with a Watering Can, 1876; Claude Monet, 1872; Georges Rivière, 1877; Mademoiselle Sicot, 1865; Mlle Charlotte Berthier, 1883; Woman with a Cat, c. 1875; Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg), 1879; Madame Monet and Her Son, 1874; Child with Toys - Gabrielle and the Artist's Son, Jean, 1895-1896.

News: Two Renoirs Returned, Six Apprehended in Theft at French Museum (Artforum, October 12, 2026). A pair of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir that were stolen last month from the artist’s namesake museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, were found by local officials. Six people thought to have been connected with the crime have been arrested. Bryan Masson, the mayor of the French Riviera town that…