The Great Artists

This introduction to some of the great artists of the past 150 years looks at their lives and inspirations, and showcases a selection of their most significant paintings. Pierre-Auguste Renoir was one of the foremost Impressionist artists, exhibiting six paintings in their famous 1874 exhibition and often painting scenes of middle-class leisure outdoors - en plein air - with Monet. But Renoir's primary interest lay indoors, in depictions of sensuous female nudes and cosy domestic scenes, painted in a warm, bright palette. This book explores the life and work of this leading light of Impressionism, and shows how his work developed in a different direction to many of the others in the group, as he absorbed some elements of a classical style into his painting.