The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa is hosting, starting on June the 8th, a rich exhibition of landscapes made by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, offering the chance for art-lovers to discover first hand the style and works of one of the most important Impressionist artists. The curators have chosen 56 of the best landscapes produced by Renoir, many of these rarely seen in a public exhibition, creating thus a true history of this genre in Renoir's art. The places depicted range from famous Parisian locations to the landscapes that Renoir painted in Normandy, Algiers and Italy.
The careful compositions depict the artist's interest for new chalenges and techniques, as he permanently tried to improve his manner of painting. Also, besides the landscapes, the organisers also selected depictions of Aline Charigot, Renoir's lover who would eventually become his wife, as well as portraits of Lise Trehot, one of his first lovers.
Even if some of the most important museum in the world have many of Renoir's paintings, the exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada is a premiere, as it showcases a large body of work in the same place, presenting how the painter developped over time, trying to experiment, often with a surprising courage. The exhibition will stay open until the 9th of September.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir - a biography
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born of the 25th of February 1841 in Limoges, France, and would later become a most important members of the Impressionist movement, at the same time being influenced by classical art, which he greatly admired. He was a very prolific and popular artist, famous especially for his landscapes, which still range among the best known European works of art.
Born in a modest family, at just 13 Renoir became an apprentice to a porcelain painter, called Levy, who would give him the first art lessons and from whom the future painter learned a great deal. Wanting to be a painter, Renoir enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied between 1862 - 1864. He worked for a while in the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he had the chance of meeting his future friends, the artists Sisley, Monet and Bazille. In 1881 and 1882 he left for Italy and North Africa, and a year later he worked in the south of France, discovering the magic of nature together with Cezanne and Monet. He would keep this habit, and continued working in Normandy, Brittany, Champagne, Provence, producing mainly landscapes which quickly atracted the interest of the public and art critics.
A great admirer of classical painting, Renoir used to spend days studying this kind of artworks in European museum and especially at the Louvre, and his mature style reflects this influences, ranging from Courbet and Delacroix to Rubens.
Even today Renoir is still considered one of the best in European art history, and the exhibition at the National Gallery of Canda describes specifically how his style matured and evolved during the 1860s - 1870s.
Photo : national.gallery.ca
June 2007
