Renoir Paintings

About Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1841 to 1919, was a leading French Impressionist artist, a painter and a sculptor. In his depiction of feminine beauty, Renoir has been described as the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau.

The two canvases by him on our list of the best known paintings in art history both come from the 1870s and 1880s. Bal du moulin de la Galette, the dance floor, is an 1876 canvas. The Luncheon of the Boating Party was painted in 1880 and 1881, exhibited at the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, and identified as the best painting in the show by three critics. It was bought from the artist by the dealer and patron Paul Durand-Ruel, then bought in 1923 from Durand-Ruel's son by the industrialist Duncan Phillips, who had spent a decade in pursuit of it, and it is now in The Phillips Collection in Washington. What those critics saw in it is what the whole collection turns on: a richness of form, a fluidity of brush stroke and a flickering light. Renoir was one of the Paris-based painters whose independent shows made the movement, and he kept that touch for forty years.

Series and periods

Renoir kept returning to a short list of subjects, and this collection reads best in those groups.

• Figures and young women: the models in hats and dresses, indoors and out, the part of his work that earned the Rubens comparison. Titles here: Taking a Walk, Andree in a Pink Dress, Woman in a Red Blouse, Blond in a Straw Hat, Wearing a Hat.
• Groups in the open air: the crowded tables and dance floors, and figures set into a landscape. The two museum famous ones are both here. Titles here: The Luncheon of the Boating Party, Dance at Moulin de la Galette, Three Women and Child in a Landscape, Two Woman in a Garden.
• The river: boats, banks and figures at the water, the subject he shared with the painters who exhibited beside him. Titles here: The Skiff (La Yole), The Banks of the River, Two Figures by the Water, Trees by the Water.
• Landscapes and villages: red roofs, a fence, a windmill, the countryside seen on foot. Titles here: Landscape with Red Roofs, Landscape with Fence, The Village, Windmill, Woman in a Landscape.
• Flowers and tables: vases and table pieces, the smallest subjects he painted and among the best selling items here. Titles here: Vase of Tulips and Anemones, Vase of Anemones, Grapes, Glass and Lemon.

Most famous works

These are the Renoir titles people ask for most in this collection, ordered by the traffic each one draws and by what actually sells. Each name opens its own page, where you choose the size and decide on a frame. Every one is painted in oil after Renoir, to order, and no two hands read a brushstroke the same way.

• The Luncheon of the Boating Party: painted in 1880 and 1881 and shown at the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, where three critics called it the best painting in the show. The original hangs in The Phillips Collection in Washington, the museum Duncan Phillips built, and it is the most ordered Renoir in this collection
• Dance at Moulin de la Galette: an 1876 canvas, known in French as Bal du moulin de la Galette, the dance floor at the Moulin de la Galette
• The Skiff (La Yole): a skiff on bright water, known by its French title La Yole
• Young Woman Taking a Walk: a figure walking, one of the many studies made outdoors on a summer day
• Andree in a Pink Dress: a portrait of the model named in the title
• Woman in a Red Blouse: a figure in the red blouse of the title
• Woman at the Window with a View of Nice: a figure at an open window, with Nice beyond it
• Three Women and Child in a Landscape: a group in the open air, set into a landscape
• Blond in a Straw Hat (Seated Girl): a seated girl in a straw hat, the light coming through the brim
• Young Woman Wearing a Hat: another of the hat studies, cropped close
• Portrait of Mademoiselle Francois: a portrait of the sitter named in the title
• The Banks of the River: one of the river bank canvases here, water and trees and nothing else
• Two Figures by the Water: two figures at the edge of the river, painted small in a wide view
• Trees by the Water: trees on a bank, the reflection carrying half the picture
• Landscape with Red Roofs: roofs in a valley, the red set against green
• Landscape with Fence: a fence line across a field, a plain subject treated in full light
• The Village: a village seen whole, one of the best selling titles in this collection
• Windmill: a windmill on open ground
• Vase of Tulips and Anemones: tulips and anemones in a vase, one of the flower pieces
• Vase of Anemones: anemones alone, the same subject cut back
• Still Life with Grapes: grapes on a table, one of the smaller still lifes
• Still Life with Glass and Lemon: a glass and a lemon, and nothing more in the frame, the tightest of the still lifes
• Two Woman in a Garden: two figures in a garden, the title as the store lists it

Browse by subject

Renoir's subjects run through other collections of ours, and each one is a different door into the same painter.

• Impressionism: 6,138 works, the 19th-century art movement marked by visible brush strokes, open composition, ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles and the accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities, which came out of a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. Renoir was a leading figure in it, and the group's seventh exhibition, in 1882, is where the Boating Party met the public. The artwork of that circle is well represented in this museum of a catalogue.
• Paintings of women: 9,375 canvases, the genre whose intent is to represent a specific human subject, worked on commission for public and private persons or out of admiration for the sitter, and long kept as a state and family record. The models, the sitters and the figures in hats, the side of his output that earned him the Rubens to Watteau comparison.
• Landscape paintings: 8,004 titles, the genre in which the main subject is a wide view of natural scenery, mountains, valleys, rivers, trees and forests, with sky almost always in the view and weather often an element of the composition. The river banks, the villages, the red roofs and the windmill.
• Still life paintings: 2,329 pieces, the picture of mostly inanimate subject matter, the commonplace objects of a table or a studio, either natural or human-made. The vases of anemones and tulips, the grapes, the glass and the lemon, all of the table pieces in one place.
• Flower paintings: 1,325 paintings, The flower pieces on their own, among the most ordered titles in this collection.
• The 100 most famous paintings of all time: 2 canvases by Renoir sit on this list, our reading of the best known paintings in art history, the Boating Party and the dance at the Moulin de la Galette, both of them museum pieces today.

The full list of painters we reproduce in oil is on the artist index.

How each reproduction is painted

Nothing here is stock. When you order, an artist paints that title in oil on canvas in the size you picked, layer by layer, and you see a photograph of the finished painting and approve it before it leaves the studio. A museum keeps the original; what you get is a new painting of the same composition, made by hand for the wall you have in mind. Museum visits end at the gift shop, and a museum poster is a print of a photograph, which is the one thing this is not. Seven sizes are available and the frame is optional, so the same picture can be a small study by a desk or the one thing on a wall. Shipping is free worldwide and returns stay open for 90 days.

Frequently asked questions

Which Renoir painting is the most famous?

The Luncheon of the Boating Party, from 1880 and 1881, which three critics called the best painting at the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882. It is also the most ordered Renoir here.

Where is the original Luncheon of the Boating Party?

In The Phillips Collection in Washington. Duncan Phillips bought it in 1923 from the son of Paul Durand-Ruel, the dealer who had bought it from Renoir himself, and it took him a decade of pursuit. The dealer's son sold what his father had backed from the start.

Where are Renoir's originals?

In museum collections. The Luncheon of the Boating Party is in The Phillips Collection in Washington, and the rest are spread across museums and private hands in France and abroad, which is the practical reason a hand-painted reproduction exists at all.

What is Impressionism?

A 19th-century movement built on visible brush strokes, open composition, ordinary subject matter, unusual angles and the accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities. It came out of a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s.

Which Renoir should I start with?

For the museum picture everyone knows, take the Boating Party or the dance floor. For a quiet wall, take a vase of anemones or a river bank, where the same flickering light runs at a smaller scale.

How many Renoir paintings are in this collection?

927 titles, all of them hand-painted to order in oil on canvas. The list runs from the crowded river terrace of 1880 and 1881 to single vases of anemones, with the figures, the river banks and the villages in between, and the collection is sorted so that the titles people order most come first.

Did Renoir only paint people?

No. He is known for the figures, but this collection also holds river banks, villages, red roofs, a windmill and a long run of flower and table pieces, most of them small in scale and quiet in subject.

Was Renoir part of the Impressionist group?

Yes. He was a leading French painter in that circle, Paris-based like Claude Monet, whose canvas gave the movement its name at the first Impressionist exhibition, in 1874. Renoir painted alongside them and exhibited with them, and his Boating Party was the hit of their seventh exhibition, in 1882. Both of those canvases are museum property today.

Are these original Pierre-Auguste Renoir paintings?

No. Each one is a new painting, made by hand in oil on canvas after Renoir's composition. It is a reproduction, not a print, and not the original canvas.

What sizes and frames can I order?

Every Renoir reproduction here comes in seven sizes, with an optional frame. You see a photo of the finished oil painting and approve it before it ships, worldwide shipping is free, and returns stay open for 90 days.