Renoir

In six decades of creative life, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, one of the founders of Impressionism, created about six thousand works - about a hundred a year, and his paintings are unmistakably recognizable by the sense of happiness and harmony they emanate. The writer Octave Mirbeau called Renoir the only great artist who did not paint a single sad picture. His canvases reflected the joy he experienced while creating them. He was not attracted to heroic and tragic plots; he loved people, light, and nature, painting dancing and joyful townsfolk and peasants, beautiful landscapes and flowers, charming children and young, full of life women.

Renoir's compatriot, art historian Pascal Bonafoux, talks about his complicated relationships with colleagues, art dealers, and officials, about his painting techniques and color preferences, revealing the secret of how the artist managed to paint outdoors and create sculptures in old age, almost unable to use his hands and confined to a wheelchair.