Author(s): Gilles Neret

Art and Design

Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) is now universally acclaimed: museums pride themselves on his paintings, crowds flock to his retrospectives. His work shows art at its most light-hearted, sensual and luminous.
Renoir never wanted anything ugly in his paintings, nor any dramatic action.
"I like pictures which make me want to wander through them when it's a landscape," he said, "or pass my hand over breast or back if it's a woman."