Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, France on February 25, 1841. In 1862, he began studying art in Paris where he met Alfred Sisley, Frédéric Bazille, and Claude Monet. Renoir was living from hand to mouth until his first breakthrough in 1868 with his painting Lise with a Parasol that depicted his current lover. In April 1874, he and Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, along with several other artists, launched an exhibition featuring the new impressionist style of art, that included six of his paintings. Though the initial response to this new style was somewhat negative, eventually it grew in popularity and Renoir became regarded as one of the leading painters in this genre for his representation of female beauty.
Emphasizing the visceral dimension of art, he once reflected, “Art is about emotion; if art needs to be explained it is no longer art.”
