Renoir belongs to one of the founders of classical impressionism, however, unlike the paintings of his colleagues, his painting developed in a different direction. He devoted his work to the methods of transparent painting. Using completely new methods of smearing, Renoir achieved a separate structure of his work, which significantly distinguishes his work from the school of old masters.
Women in the paintings of Renoir
The paintings of Renoir, with the names of which are associated with a truly feminine charm, wonderfully convey subtle features of girlish beauty. He was an optimist and sought out the best manifestations in life, trying to preserve them with the help of the picturesque kinetics of his brushes.
As an artist, Renoir, whose paintings emit light, knew how to find and portray only joyful and happy faces. Largely due to this ability, as well as the inherent love of people, the creator made the quintessence of his art of women.
The paintings of Renoir with the names "Zhanna Samari", "Ballerina", "Bathers" give him an expert on female nature, who had his own ideal of beauty and was alien to conventions. Women in Auguste's paintings are recognizable, and anyone who has ever encountered the history of painting is able to recognize the hand of a master. Each lady always looks from the canvas with eyes filled with a thirst for love and a craving for change. Among the common features that are visible in all female portraits of the artist are all the ladies in the paintings have a small forehead and a heavy chin.
“Portrait of Jeanne Samari” and “Portrait of Henriett Henriot”
In 1877, a personal exhibition of the artist’s expositions within the framework of impressionism was held. Among most of the works, the paintings of Renoir titled “Portrait of Jeanne Samari” and “Portrait of Henriett Henriot” aroused the greatest interest. The ladies - actresses depicted in the paintings. The author painted their portraits more than once. The paintings captured attention largely due to the skillfully created illusion of mobility of a white-blue background, which gradually condenses around the outlines of the feminine Henriett and leads the viewer to her velvet brown eyes. Despite the fact that in general the exposition came out very kinetic and emotional, at the same time it remained motionless, with an emphasis on the contrast of dark brow arches and supple red curls.
In a similar manner, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, whose paintings are not famous for the arrangement of accents and detail, also painted a portrait of the charming Jeanne Samari. The figure of the actress seems to be fashioned from ornate purple strokes, which incredibly absorbed the entire possible color palette and at the same time retained a dominant red color. Renoir skillfully brings the viewer to the girl’s face, focusing on the traced mouth, eyes and even locks of hair. The background reflexes the actress’s face with a purple blush that blends in very harmoniously with the image of the diva. The body of the actress is filled with hasting strokes characteristic of the impressionists.
Technical features of the execution of Renoir
Pierre Auguste Renoir, whose paintings radiate the spirit of impressionism, continued to work until the last days of his life, not allowing the disease to remove it from its colors. In addition to his love for the depiction of female nature, the artist became famous for his ability to effectively use color and work with those paints that his craft colleagues rarely resorted to.
Auguste is one of the few who skillfully resorted to using combinations of black, gray and white colors on their canvases so that the paintings do not look “dirty”. The artist visited the idea of experimenting with this color scheme when he somehow sat and watched raindrops. Many art historians notice that the artist can be called a master of the image of umbrellas, since he often resorted to this detail in his work.
For the most part, the master used whitewash, Neapolitan yellow paint, cobalt blue, crowns, ultramarine, kraplak, emerald green paint and vermilion for work, but their skillful combination gave rise to incredibly picturesque masterpieces. Closer to 1860, when impressionism was gaining momentum, Renoir's color palette underwent changes and he began to resort to brighter shades, for example, red.
Monet's influence on the work of Renoir
The case led Renoir to a meeting with an equally important painter for French art, Claude Monet. Their fates were intertwined, and for some time they lived in the same apartment, constantly honing their skills, depicting each other in canvases. Some critics argue that the similarity of their paintings is so obvious that if it were not for the signature in the lower left corner, it would technically be impossible to distinguish between them. However, there are clear discrepancies in their work. For example, Monet focused on the play of light and shadow, due to which he created his contrasts on canvases. Auguste appreciated the color as such, from which his paintings are more iridescent and filled with light. Another fundamental difference in the work of the painters was that the paintings of Renoir, with the names of which women are certainly associated, always gravitated to the depiction of human figures, while Claude Monet certainly led them to the background.