Pierre-Auguste Renoir's (1841-1919) timelessly charming paintings still reflect our ideals of happiness, love, and beauty. Derived from our large-format volume, the most comprehensive retrospective of his work published to date, this compact edition examines the personal history and motivation behind the legend. Though he began by painting landscapes in the Impressionist style, Renoir found his true affinity in portraits, after which he abandoned the Impressionists altogether. Though often misunderstood, Renoir remains one of history's most well-loved painters-undoubtedly because his works exude such warmth, tenderness, and good spirit.

In an incisive text tracing the artist's career and stylistic evolution, Gilles Neret shows how Renoir reinvented the painted female form, with his everyday goddesses and their plump contours, rounded hips and breasts. Renoir's later phase, marked by his return to the simple pleasure of the female nude in his Bathers series, was his most innovative and stylistically influential, and would inspire such masters as Matisse and Picasso.

With a complete chronology, bibliography, photos, sketches, and brilliant reproductions, this is the essential work of reference on this enduring master artist.

About the Author
Gilles Neret (1933-2005) was an art historian, journalist, writer, and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU Museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L'OEil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. His TASCHEN titles include Salvador Dali: The Paintings, Matisse, and Erotica Universalis.

Reviews
"I am content to demand just one thing for a masterpiece: enjoyment." * Pierre-Auguste Renoir *
"One morning, one of us ran out of black and used blue, it was the birth of Impressionism." * Pierre-Auguste Renoir *
"Why shouldn't art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world." * Pierre-Auguste Renoir *



Book Information
ISBN 9783836592093
Author Gilles Neret
Format Hardback
Page Count 488
Imprint Taschen GmbH
Publisher Taschen GmbH
Weight(grams) 1063g