Pierre-Auguste Renoir

In his early years, Renoir was deeply influenced by the work of Delacroix and the portraits of Ingres, though he soon developed his own style: warmer, more human. His light and vibrant brushstroke became his signature. Over time, his paintings filled with female figures wrapped in a luminous atmosphere, where skin seemed to blend with air and colors melted softly together, creating the famous characteristic blur that defines his entire body of work.

During the 1880s, Renoir began to suffer from severe rheumatoid arthritis, which deformed his hands and limited his mobility. However, instead of giving up, the artist transformed his pain into a new aesthetic quest. His painting took on a more intimate and reflective tone, with a luminous realism that revealed a deeper understanding of life and imperfect beauty. Renoir came to understand that reality, unadorned, could also be sublime.

In his final years, the master continued to paint even when illness forced him to tie the brush to his wrist. That image — a man bound to art by pure passion — sums up his entire career: an artist who never gave up, who painted until his last breath with moving delicacy and vital joy that transcends the canvas.

Notable fact: When Renoir could barely move his hands, a visitor asked him why he kept painting. He calmly replied, “The pain passes, but the beauty remains.” That phrase, spoken between trembling brushstrokes, became an eternal symbol of love for art. Today, his works — such as "Luncheon of the Boating Party" and "The Large Bathers" — stand as proof of a sensitivity that transformed suffering into color, and color into life.