WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.259 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we are immersing 00:00:03.259 --> 00:00:05.759 ourselves in the world of an artist whose name 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:08.640 is synonymous with sun -drenched picnics, vibrant 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:12.560 dance halls, and, well, the abundant joy of the 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:16.320 female form, Pierre -Auguste Renoir. He really 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.480 is. When we talk about impressionism, we often 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:21.320 focus on the radical technical stuff, the broken 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:23.320 brushstrokes, the sort of scientific look at 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:26.780 light. Right. But Renoir is unique in that he 00:00:26.780 --> 00:00:29.780 channeled those revolutionary tools towards something 00:00:29.780 --> 00:00:32.719 profoundly traditional, almost primal. He was, 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.479 above all, the ultimate celebrator of life's 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:38.739 visible pleasures. And especially, I'd say. feminine 00:00:38.739 --> 00:00:40.479 sensuality. It really sets him apart, doesn't 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:43.619 it? Our sources make this just astonishing kind 00:00:43.619 --> 00:00:46.159 of sweeping claim about his position in art history. 00:00:46.299 --> 00:00:48.299 They say he is the final representative of a 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:50.420 tradition which runs directly from Rubens to 00:00:50.420 --> 00:00:52.740 Watteau. Wow. That places him at the very end 00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:56.159 of this long celebrated European lineage. Heavy 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:58.240 stuff. It's a remarkable claim, yeah. But when 00:00:58.240 --> 00:00:59.740 you really look at his body of work, you can 00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:01.880 see why they'd say that. It holds up. What does 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:03.810 that lineage mean, though? Good question. it 00:01:03.810 --> 00:01:07.170 means i think a rejection of that severe maybe 00:01:07.170 --> 00:01:09.829 intellectual classicism that dominated so much 00:01:09.829 --> 00:01:12.810 of european art it means prioritizing the celebration 00:01:12.810 --> 00:01:16.150 of the flesh the texture of skin the warmth of 00:01:16.150 --> 00:01:18.930 the body the sheer physical abundance of life. 00:01:19.030 --> 00:01:21.769 Like Rubens. Exactly. Rubens did it with these 00:01:21.769 --> 00:01:25.010 grand mythic figures. Watteau brought it into 00:01:25.010 --> 00:01:27.670 those aristocratic gardens, you know, Fetz Galant. 00:01:27.849 --> 00:01:29.969 And Renoir. Renoir brought it right into the 00:01:29.969 --> 00:01:32.489 middle class Parisian dance halls, the cafes, 00:01:32.689 --> 00:01:35.590 and the intimacy of family life. He made it modern, 00:01:35.750 --> 00:01:38.709 accessible. It really speaks volumes about his 00:01:38.709 --> 00:01:42.510 career's sheer breadth and duration, too. Born 00:01:42.510 --> 00:01:46.129 in Limoges, 1841, died in 1919. He was right 00:01:46.129 --> 00:01:48.650 there. a central figure through the whole development 00:01:48.650 --> 00:01:50.709 of the Impressionist style. Almost seven decades 00:01:50.709 --> 00:01:52.769 of continuous creativity. It's pretty staggering. 00:01:52.969 --> 00:01:55.049 And just as important as the canvases he left 00:01:55.049 --> 00:01:57.810 behind is, well, the cultural dynasty he started. 00:01:57.950 --> 00:01:59.670 Before we even get into the paint and the palette 00:01:59.670 --> 00:02:02.010 knives, we really have to highlight his family 00:02:02.010 --> 00:02:04.930 legacy. It's incredible. Oh, absolutely. Renoir 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:06.989 wasn't just a painter. He was, in a way, the 00:02:06.989 --> 00:02:09.590 patriarch of this whole line of modern arts figures. 00:02:09.990 --> 00:02:12.569 Think about this. He was the father of Pierre 00:02:12.569 --> 00:02:15.689 Renoir, the stage and film actor. He was the... 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:18.240 father of the legendary filmmaker Jean Renoir, 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:21.060 who gave us classics like Grand Illusion and 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:23.300 The Rules of the Game. And who wrote that incredibly 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:26.900 moving memoir about him, Renoir, My Father. Essential 00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:28.860 reading if you're interested in Renoir the man. 00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:31.099 Definitely. And then there was Claude Renoir, 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:34.750 the ceramic artist, his third son. But the talent 00:02:34.750 --> 00:02:37.669 didn't even stop there. No. He was also the grandfather 00:02:37.669 --> 00:02:40.069 of another filmmaker, Claude Renoir -Pierre's 00:02:40.069 --> 00:02:42.949 son, who was a noted cinematographer. It's just 00:02:42.949 --> 00:02:46.129 an incredible line of cultural achievement, all 00:02:46.129 --> 00:02:48.629 flowing directly from this one Impressionist 00:02:48.629 --> 00:02:51.289 painter. Really gives you a sense of the dynamic, 00:02:51.330 --> 00:02:53.569 artistic environment he must have fostered at 00:02:53.569 --> 00:02:56.370 home. It really does. So our mission today is 00:02:56.370 --> 00:02:58.430 to trace this extraordinary journey for you. 00:02:58.550 --> 00:03:01.090 We're going to unpack the sources, look at everything 00:03:01.090 --> 00:03:03.669 from his beginnings as a tailor's son. who, you 00:03:03.669 --> 00:03:06.129 know, sometimes couldn't even afford paint. Through 00:03:06.129 --> 00:03:09.349 his pivotal, quite radical role in Impressionism, 00:03:09.409 --> 00:03:12.530 then those dramatic, self -imposed style changes 00:03:12.530 --> 00:03:14.669 he made in mid -career. The Angraise period. 00:03:15.069 --> 00:03:18.250 Exactly. And finally, that incredible story of 00:03:18.250 --> 00:03:20.629 his persistence, how he kept creating these masterpieces 00:03:20.629 --> 00:03:23.370 despite decades of severe, crippling physical 00:03:23.370 --> 00:03:26.770 disability. We want to give you the full picture. 00:03:27.150 --> 00:03:29.629 Okay, let's start right at the beginning. Limoges, 00:03:29.669 --> 00:03:34.259 1841. Renoir's origins were definitively humble. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.620 His father, Leonard Renoir, was a tailor. The 00:03:37.620 --> 00:03:40.099 family lived a very modest life. Yeah, their 00:03:40.099 --> 00:03:42.740 economic situation really dictated things. By 00:03:42.740 --> 00:03:45.180 1844, they moved to central Paris, settled on 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:47.900 the Rue d 'Argentoux. Now, this move was crucial 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:49.879 for a couple of reasons. Well, one, they hoped 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:51.919 for better tailoring prospects in the capital, 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:55.139 obviously. But two, it situated the young Renoir 00:03:55.139 --> 00:03:57.629 remarkably close to the Louvre Museum. So that 00:03:57.629 --> 00:04:00.050 visual education started early, even if it was, 00:04:00.050 --> 00:04:02.349 you know, maybe unconscious at first. It's funny, 00:04:02.409 --> 00:04:04.789 we often look back and sort of impose destiny 00:04:04.789 --> 00:04:06.810 onto artists, don't we? Assume they were always 00:04:06.810 --> 00:04:09.849 meant to paint. But the sources give us this 00:04:09.849 --> 00:04:12.490 really surprising, almost alternate reality path 00:04:12.490 --> 00:04:14.889 that Renoir nearly took. They absolutely do. 00:04:15.030 --> 00:04:17.089 While he apparently showed a natural knack for 00:04:17.089 --> 00:04:20.089 drawing, his earliest, most recognized talent 00:04:20.089 --> 00:04:23.310 was actually for singing. Singing, yeah. He was 00:04:23.310 --> 00:04:25.810 encouraged by Charles Gounod. Yes, that Gounod 00:04:25.810 --> 00:04:27.589 who was the choir master at the Church of St. 00:04:27.709 --> 00:04:30.250 Roche at the time. Had finances been different, 00:04:30.389 --> 00:04:32.649 Renoir might have ended up known today as like 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:35.569 a composer or maybe a celebrated opera singer. 00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:38.829 Who knows? That's wild. But financial constraints 00:04:38.829 --> 00:04:41.089 defined his early life, as you said, so that 00:04:41.089 --> 00:04:44.069 promising musical path got cut short pretty abruptly. 00:04:44.350 --> 00:04:47.269 It did. He had to stop the lessons and, at just 00:04:47.269 --> 00:04:50.149 13, leave school entirely. He was sent off to 00:04:50.149 --> 00:04:51.990 become an apprentice at a porcelain factory. 00:04:52.290 --> 00:04:55.029 A porcelain factory. That sounds specific. It 00:04:55.029 --> 00:04:57.189 was the reality for a working -class family then. 00:04:57.310 --> 00:04:59.850 He was put to work decorating plates, cups, that 00:04:59.850 --> 00:05:02.149 sort of thing, basically applying pre -designed 00:05:02.149 --> 00:05:05.949 patterns onto commercial ceramics. It was probably 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:08.649 pretty monotonous, an early grind. But maybe 00:05:08.649 --> 00:05:11.509 useful skills. Oh, definitely. It was also a 00:05:11.509 --> 00:05:13.730 vital training ground in its own way. It taught 00:05:13.730 --> 00:05:16.829 him precision, speed, and a real mastery over 00:05:16.829 --> 00:05:19.209 small, delicate brushwork, skills that would 00:05:19.209 --> 00:05:21.470 actually serve him later. Still, he found the 00:05:21.470 --> 00:05:23.610 subject matter pretty tiresome, stuck in commercial 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:26.709 work. We know his refuge became the Louvre, just 00:05:26.709 --> 00:05:29.889 nearby. Was this just a kid escaping boredom, 00:05:29.889 --> 00:05:32.129 or was he actually studying? Seems like active 00:05:32.129 --> 00:05:35.199 study. He was soaking up the old masters, you 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:36.800 know, the ones who had perfected the art of the 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.220 human figure long before the Impressionists came 00:05:39.220 --> 00:05:42.459 along. And crucially, the owner of the porcelain 00:05:42.459 --> 00:05:45.279 factory apparently recognized that Renoir's talent 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.000 went way beyond just commercial decorating. Ah, 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:50.879 so someone noticed. Yes, and he communicated 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.459 this to the family. This was the push they needed, 00:05:53.579 --> 00:05:56.100 and it led Renoir to start taking drawing lessons, 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:58.680 specifically to prepare for the École des Beaux 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:01.519 -Arts, the main art school. But even this artistic 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:03.660 path wasn't straightforward, was it? The Industrial 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:05.720 Revolution kind of literally caught up with him. 00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:08.939 It really did. In 1858, the porcelain factory 00:06:08.939 --> 00:06:11.019 switched over to mechanical reproduction methods 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:13.980 for the decorative work. Suddenly, Renoir's hand 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:17.180 skills were obsolete overnight. Wow. So back 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:20.019 to square one. Pretty much. He was forced to 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:22.220 find other ways to make a living for about four 00:06:22.220 --> 00:06:24.459 years before he could finally enroll in art school 00:06:24.459 --> 00:06:28.939 in 1862. He was truly hustling, painting decorative 00:06:28.939 --> 00:06:31.259 hangings for overseas missionaries, apparently. 00:06:31.500 --> 00:06:34.259 Seriously? Missionaries? Yeah, and maybe a bit 00:06:34.259 --> 00:06:37.319 more artistically relevant decorating fans. He 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:40.199 was basically a freelance commercial artist just 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:42.160 trying to stay afloat long enough to get into 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.240 proper training. You have to admire the persistence. 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:49.459 Finally, 1862, he enrolls, studies under Charles 00:06:49.459 --> 00:06:52.259 Gleyre in Paris, and this is where he meets that 00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:54.220 foundational group, the guys who had become the 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:56.040 Impressionists. Yes, this is the key moment. 00:06:56.339 --> 00:06:59.420 He meets Alfred Sisley, Frédéric Bazille, and 00:06:59.420 --> 00:07:01.519 the man who would probably most radically alter 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:04.720 Renoir's direction, Claude Monet. The dream team. 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:07.259 This quartet started questioning the academic 00:07:07.259 --> 00:07:09.620 orthodoxy together. They began developing this 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:11.699 shared vision that would, you know, pretty soon 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:13.689 break all the rules of French painting. But even 00:07:13.689 --> 00:07:16.069 hanging out with this revolutionary group, the 00:07:16.069 --> 00:07:19.129 financial struggle was absolutely constant. The 00:07:19.129 --> 00:07:21.730 sources really stressed that throughout the 1860s, 00:07:21.750 --> 00:07:24.550 Renoir often literally didn't have the money 00:07:24.550 --> 00:07:28.269 to buy basic supplies, paint, canvas. It just 00:07:28.269 --> 00:07:30.550 underscores the sheer dedication of that early 00:07:30.550 --> 00:07:33.509 generation, doesn't it? They believed so strongly 00:07:33.509 --> 00:07:36.089 in this new way of seeing light and color that 00:07:36.089 --> 00:07:38.430 they just kept working, even when they were basically 00:07:38.430 --> 00:07:40.959 destitute. Incredible. But despite the strain, 00:07:41.100 --> 00:07:44.620 he did have a major, if maybe temporary, breakthrough. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.500 His first real success at the official salon 00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:51.500 in 1868 with Lise with a parasol. It's a lovely 00:07:51.500 --> 00:07:53.819 portrait of his lover at the time, Lise Trejo. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:56.720 But wider recognition was slow coming, partly 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:58.819 because of the turbulent political climate you 00:07:58.819 --> 00:08:01.139 mentioned. The Franco -Prussian War, the Paris 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:03.920 Commune in 1871. Exactly. And that historical 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:06.180 context brings us to this remarkable, almost 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:08.879 unbelievable anecdote, the Seine Incident. Ah, 00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:10.540 yes. Tell us about that. It sounds dramatic. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.000 It perfectly captures the danger and chaos of 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:16.019 that year, 1871, during the Commune, when Noir 00:08:16.019 --> 00:08:18.100 was out painting, doing a landscape on the banks 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:20.519 of the Seine River. During the Commune, paranoia 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:23.399 was absolutely rampant. Anyone sketching could 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:26.060 be suspected of mapping positions, spying for 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:27.959 the government side against the Communards. Oh, 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:29.920 I see where this is going. Yeah. He was surrounded 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:31.980 by a group of communards who decided he was a 00:08:31.980 --> 00:08:34.980 spy. And they were literally preparing to throw 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:38.139 him into the river. Good grief. That's not just 00:08:38.139 --> 00:08:40.419 a threat. That's immediate execution. How did 00:08:40.419 --> 00:08:43.379 he get out of that? Pure dumb luck and personal 00:08:43.379 --> 00:08:46.399 history. He was saved when one of the commune 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:49.240 leaders, a man named Raul Rigaud, happened to 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:52.500 recognize Renoir. Recognized him how? Apparently, 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:55.179 Rigaud was someone Renoir had helped or protected 00:08:55.179 --> 00:08:58.139 in some capacity in the past. A prior connection. 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:01.519 a forgotten favor. Rigaud intervened and spared 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:04.740 his life. Wow. It's terrifying to think how close 00:09:04.740 --> 00:09:06.779 Impressionism came to losing one of its core 00:09:06.779 --> 00:09:09.340 founders right there in a moment of civil unrest. 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:11.440 Gives you chills, doesn't it? It really does. 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:14.820 Now, moving past that turmoil, in 1874, there 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:17.100 was another loss. Less life -threatening, certainly, 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:20.019 but still significant for his art. The end of 00:09:20.019 --> 00:09:22.559 his 10 -year friendship with Jules Lecur. Right, 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:24.700 and this loss had a really direct impact on his 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:27.519 subject matter. Lecoeur owned property near the 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:29.960 forests of Fontainebleau, a really scenic area. 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:32.840 Where he'd painted before. Exactly. Lecoeur had 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:35.580 given Renoir access, and Renoir had spent years 00:09:35.580 --> 00:09:37.940 painting these beautiful, lush, green landscapes 00:09:37.940 --> 00:09:41.399 there. Losing that access, that location, basically 00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:44.460 forced him to shift his focus. He turned much 00:09:44.460 --> 00:09:47.559 more towards painting modern, urban life. figures, 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:50.320 portraits, which in turn propelled him straight 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:52.159 into the heart of core Impressionist themes. 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:55.879 So, having been repeatedly snubbed by the conservative 00:09:55.879 --> 00:09:58.940 Salon, Renoir was really ready to commit fully 00:09:58.940 --> 00:10:01.799 to the revolution, artistically speaking. By 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:04.200 this time, he was heavily inspired by the stylistic 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:06.799 innovations of Camille Pissarro, and also the 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:08.940 sharp social observations in the work of Edouard 00:10:08.940 --> 00:10:11.360 Manet. And so, the revolution finally took physical 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.879 form in April 1874. After all those rejections 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.100 from the establishment, he joined Monet, Sisley, 00:10:17.220 --> 00:10:19.379 Pissarro, Degas, Bertha Morisot, and others, 00:10:19.539 --> 00:10:22.500 and they mounted their own show, the First Impressionist 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:25.840 Exhibition. He put in six paintings. And while 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:28.159 the critics were famously savage towards the 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:30.759 exhibition as a whole, that's where the term 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:32.919 impressionist was first used dismissively, like 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:34.559 their paintings were just mere impressions. Right, 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:37.470 unfinished sketches. Exactly. But Renoir's work 00:10:37.470 --> 00:10:40.129 actually stood out. It was noted for its charm, 00:10:40.230 --> 00:10:43.289 its skill. He received comparatively well -received 00:10:43.289 --> 00:10:46.889 criticism, even amidst the general outcry. He 00:10:46.889 --> 00:10:50.070 was now officially, publicly, part of this movement 00:10:50.070 --> 00:10:52.730 challenging centuries of academic tradition. 00:10:52.970 --> 00:10:55.250 And the core of that challenge, as we touched 00:10:55.250 --> 00:10:57.970 on, came from their technical innovation, especially 00:10:57.970 --> 00:11:00.389 that discovery they made painting en plein air 00:11:00.389 --> 00:11:04.259 outdoors with Monet in the late 1860s. It fundamentally 00:11:04.259 --> 00:11:06.600 changed how they treated color, didn't it? Oh, 00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:08.720 completely. It was a visual, almost scientific 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:10.919 breakthrough about light. Specifically something 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:13.200 called diffuse reflection. Traditional painting 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.659 basically assumes shadows were just gray or black 00:11:15.659 --> 00:11:18.820 or brown pigment. Lifeless. Okay. But the Impressionists, 00:11:18.860 --> 00:11:21.539 painting outside, really looked. And they realized 00:11:21.539 --> 00:11:24.000 that light, when it scatters, actually carries 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.340 the color of the surfaces it bounces off. Right. 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:28.519 Can you walk us through that again, like in painting 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:31.279 terms? Sure. Think about, say, a figure in a 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:33.639 white dress standing on a bridge. green lawn 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:36.620 under a blue sky. The shadow cast by that figure 00:11:36.620 --> 00:11:39.559 isn't just a dark gray shape. It's actually filled 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:41.639 with the reflected green light bouncing up from 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:44.980 the grass and the cool diffused blue light coming 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:47.899 down from the sky. Ah, so the shadow itself has 00:11:47.899 --> 00:11:50.940 color. Precisely. A shadow on that white dress 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:53.700 might actually contain subtle violets, blues, 00:11:53.860 --> 00:11:56.840 maybe even hints of green. The shadow lives. 00:11:57.220 --> 00:11:59.700 This single observation immediately made their 00:11:59.700 --> 00:12:02.580 canvases vibrate with light and color in a way 00:12:02.580 --> 00:12:04.519 that academic painting just couldn't replicate. 00:12:04.779 --> 00:12:07.580 And we see this perfected in works like La Grenouillère 00:12:07.580 --> 00:12:10.200 from 1869, which he actually painted side by 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:12.240 side with Monet, both of them exploring this 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:14.960 new phenomenon. Exactly. And this discovery leads 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.120 directly to the style we instantly recognize 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:19.509 as Impressionism. those quick, freely brushed 00:12:19.509 --> 00:12:21.889 touches of color that suggest details rather 00:12:21.889 --> 00:12:24.350 than outlining them rigidly. The figures and 00:12:24.350 --> 00:12:26.009 the atmosphere kind of solidly fuse together, 00:12:26.250 --> 00:12:28.590 capturing a momentary, vibrant reality. It's 00:12:28.590 --> 00:12:31.149 all about the fleeting moment. And this revolutionary 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:34.149 style produced his great early masterpieces. 00:12:34.450 --> 00:12:37.830 We absolutely have to talk about dance at Le 00:12:37.830 --> 00:12:40.809 Moulin de la Galette from 1876. Le Moulin de 00:12:40.809 --> 00:12:43.289 la Galette, yeah. That's arguably the definitive 00:12:43.289 --> 00:12:45.820 statement of Renoir's early Impressionism. It's 00:12:45.820 --> 00:12:49.279 a huge canvas, absolutely massive, yet it feels 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:51.399 completely spontaneous, like an instantaneous 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:54.159 snapshot. What's it depicting? It captures real 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:57.179 life at this popular outdoor dance garden up 00:12:57.179 --> 00:12:59.620 in Montmartre. It's just full of bustling crowds, 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:02.399 sparkling color, dappled sunlight filtering down 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:05.000 through the acacia trees. It has incredible energy, 00:13:05.139 --> 00:13:08.470 social observation. cure joy. He also did The 00:13:08.470 --> 00:13:10.789 Swing around the same time, another classic of 00:13:10.789 --> 00:13:13.110 that period. But despite this artistic high point, 00:13:13.289 --> 00:13:15.450 Renoir never lost sight of the practical need 00:13:15.450 --> 00:13:17.669 for financial stability. That kind of sets him 00:13:17.669 --> 00:13:20.549 apart from some of his more bohemian peers, maybe. 00:13:20.789 --> 00:13:23.289 I think so. He knew critical acclaim was great, 00:13:23.429 --> 00:13:25.450 but it didn't pay the rent or buy the paint. 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.860 This led to a very calculated, quite strategic 00:13:28.860 --> 00:13:31.379 shift in focus. When the second Impressionist 00:13:31.379 --> 00:13:34.679 exhibition opened in 1876, Renoir deliberately 00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:38.299 chose to display mostly portraits. This wasn't 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:40.279 just artistic preference. It was an explicit, 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:43.460 almost business -minded move. Portraiture was 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:45.360 the traditional way artists detracted commissions 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:48.919 and secured a reliable livelihood. Smart. And 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:52.500 did it work? Brilliantly. By the late 1870s, 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:54.600 he successfully transitioned from being seen 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:57.220 as a struggling radical to becoming a genuinely 00:13:57.220 --> 00:14:00.440 fashionable painter. The moment that really cemented 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:02.940 this status was the triumph of his large portrait, 00:14:03.179 --> 00:14:05.799 Madame Charpentier and Her Children, at the official 00:14:05.799 --> 00:14:09.059 Salon of 1879. Getting into the Salon after being 00:14:09.059 --> 00:14:10.840 part of the Impressionist exhibitions, that's 00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:13.220 interesting. It was huge. It signaled that his 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:15.960 skill, his charm, his way with paint was simply 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:18.120 undeniable, even to the establishment figures 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:20.379 he'd previously rejected or been rejected by. 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:23.740 The painting was adored. It was intimate, charming, 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:26.360 beautifully painted, and it depicted a prominent 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:28.600 cultured family of the time Georges Charpentier 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:30.419 was a major publisher. So that gave him social 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:33.440 currency. Instant social currency. It attracted 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:36.379 a wealthy clientele who now wanted their families, 00:14:36.419 --> 00:14:39.320 their lives, captured with that same luminosity 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:41.820 and warmth that Renoir offered. And that success 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:44.620 then led directly to securing the patron who 00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:47.019 would become absolutely central to his life for 00:14:47.019 --> 00:14:51.960 years. Paul Berard. Indeed. In 1879, he met Berard. 00:14:52.250 --> 00:14:54.230 who was a wealthy diplomat and an avid collector. 00:14:54.769 --> 00:14:57.149 Burrard became his main patron, offering him 00:14:57.149 --> 00:14:59.230 not just steady commissions, but also regular 00:14:59.230 --> 00:15:01.750 invitations to stay and paint at his country 00:15:01.750 --> 00:15:04.590 estate in Normandy by the seaside. So the days 00:15:04.590 --> 00:15:06.889 of struggling to afford paint were finally over. 00:15:07.070 --> 00:15:09.289 Definitely over. And this newfound financial 00:15:09.289 --> 00:15:12.070 freedom, this security, is what directly enabled 00:15:12.070 --> 00:15:14.710 the next pivotal shift in his career, a real 00:15:14.710 --> 00:15:17.710 period of questioning and change, the Grand Tour. 00:15:18.299 --> 00:15:20.659 Right. So with financial freedom finally achieved, 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:23.059 Renoir enters this period of pretty profound 00:15:23.059 --> 00:15:26.120 artistic questioning. The year 1881 becomes a 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:28.620 major turning point and is defined by extensive 00:15:28.620 --> 00:15:31.480 self -funded travel, his own version of the traditional 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:33.620 grand tour. He wasn't just taking a vacation, 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:35.860 though. This was a deliberate quest for knowledge, 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.799 wasn't it? He started in Algeria. Why Algeria? 00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:41.820 He associated Algeria with the romantic master 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:45.480 Eugene Delacroix, whose use of color and light 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:48.710 he deeply admired. He was seeking. maybe a different 00:15:48.710 --> 00:15:51.090 kind of light, a different understanding of color, 00:15:51.210 --> 00:15:54.409 away from the Parisian grayness. Then he went 00:15:54.409 --> 00:15:57.509 on to Spain, specifically to Madrid, to study 00:15:57.509 --> 00:16:00.250 the work of the Spanish master Diego Velázquez. 00:16:00.450 --> 00:16:03.450 Okay, so Delacroix, Velázquez. But the really 00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:05.970 transformative destinations were in Italy, right? 00:16:06.110 --> 00:16:08.919 Absolutely. Italy was the game changer. He traveled 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:11.019 to Florence to study the Venetian masters like 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:13.539 Titian, soaking up their rich color and handling 00:16:13.539 --> 00:16:16.220 of flesh. And then he went to Rome to study the 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:19.580 ultimate classicist, Raphael. Raphael, that seems 00:16:19.580 --> 00:16:21.679 like a different direction entirely. It was. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.860 And seeing the monumental forms, the structural 00:16:23.860 --> 00:16:25.799 integrity, the sheer permanence of the Renaissance 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:28.820 masters, it planted this deep seed of doubt in 00:16:28.820 --> 00:16:31.299 his mind about his entire Impressionist project. 00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:34.299 Really, a crisis of confidence, even after all 00:16:34.299 --> 00:16:36.279 that recent success with portraits and patrons. 00:16:36.659 --> 00:16:40.000 Absolutely. The rigor, the drawing, the sheer 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:43.419 longevity of that classical tradition felt staggering 00:16:43.419 --> 00:16:46.600 compared to what he perhaps saw as the fleeting, 00:16:46.700 --> 00:16:49.779 instantaneous nature of impressionism. He started 00:16:49.779 --> 00:16:51.860 to feel that in chasing momentary light effects, 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:55.419 he had sacrificed fundamental skills. He actually 00:16:55.419 --> 00:16:57.879 became convinced that impressionism was, in his 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:01.539 words, the wrong path. Wow. That's a strong statement 00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:03.580 from a leading impressionist. This emotional 00:17:03.580 --> 00:17:06.059 turmoil is captured in that extremely candid 00:17:06.059 --> 00:17:08.119 quote we have from him about the movement. Yeah, 00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:10.720 he stated it very plainly. I had gone as far 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:12.740 as I could with impressionism, and I realized 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:15.940 I could neither paint nor draw. Ouch. For a leading 00:17:15.940 --> 00:17:18.160 figure of the movement to confess such a profound 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:20.859 sense of inadequacy after more than a decade 00:17:20.859 --> 00:17:23.680 of groundbreaking work and growing success, that's 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:26.859 a proper existential crisis for an artist. He 00:17:26.859 --> 00:17:29.180 felt he needed to relearn, to master the human 00:17:29.180 --> 00:17:32.019 form and outline all over again. Before that 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:34.200 crisis fully hit the canvas, though, there was 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:37.319 this remarkable, almost absurdly brief historical 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:39.880 meeting he had while he was in Italy in January 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:42.880 1882. Oh, right. The meeting with the legendary 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.380 composer Richard Wagner. Yes. At Wagner's home 00:17:46.380 --> 00:17:49.859 in Palermo, Sicily. Renoir somehow managed to 00:17:49.859 --> 00:17:53.079 paint Wagner's portrait in just 35 minutes. 35 00:17:53.079 --> 00:17:55.880 minutes, that's it. That's the story. It's a 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:58.019 stunning example of his speed and confidence 00:17:58.019 --> 00:18:00.839 with a brush, even when faced with this giant, 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:04.839 formidable personality. Maybe a last burst of 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:07.079 that impression of spontaneity before the doubts 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:10.460 fully set in. Yet, later that same year, 1882, 00:18:10.819 --> 00:18:14.119 the first major physical hurdle appears in his 00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:16.799 life. Yeah, he contracted pneumonia quite badly. 00:18:17.150 --> 00:18:19.210 It apparently permanently damaged his respiratory 00:18:19.210 --> 00:18:21.990 system. He had to go back to Algeria, actually, 00:18:21.990 --> 00:18:24.930 to convalesce for about six weeks. This was really 00:18:24.930 --> 00:18:27.589 a prelude, maybe a warning shot, regarding the 00:18:27.589 --> 00:18:29.789 much more severe physical struggles that would 00:18:29.789 --> 00:18:31.569 unfortunately come to dominate the later part 00:18:31.569 --> 00:18:33.890 of his life. But before that really took hold, 00:18:33.970 --> 00:18:36.329 there was another burst of creativity in 1883, 00:18:36.750 --> 00:18:38.970 the Guernsey summer. Yes, he spent the summer 00:18:38.970 --> 00:18:41.509 on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel. 00:18:42.009 --> 00:18:44.410 And he was incredibly productive, created 15 00:18:44.410 --> 00:18:47.109 paintings in just over a month. Many of them 00:18:47.109 --> 00:18:49.410 feature the picturesque bay called Mulinhue. 00:18:49.630 --> 00:18:51.750 And these Guernsey paintings are quite well known. 00:18:51.970 --> 00:18:54.670 They are. They're so distinctive and important 00:18:54.670 --> 00:18:57.170 to the region's heritage that they were actually 00:18:57.170 --> 00:18:59.549 commemorated on a set of postage stamps by the 00:18:59.549 --> 00:19:02.650 bailiwick of Guernsey back in 1983. It shows 00:19:02.650 --> 00:19:06.440 his enduring appeal. Definitely. But then, after 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:09.259 that summer, the artistic pendulum really swung 00:19:09.259 --> 00:19:12.579 hard. Influenced by that trip to Italy, he shifted 00:19:12.579 --> 00:19:15.039 dramatically into what art historians often call 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:19.200 his Ingres period in the mid -1880s. Right. Named 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:21.480 after the French academic painter Jean -Auguste 00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:24.180 Dominique Ingres, the master of line. This was 00:19:24.180 --> 00:19:26.200 basically a total rejection of the Impressionist 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:28.859 blurring and fusing of forms. For several years, 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:31.559 Renoir worked in a much more severe, almost dry 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:33.990 style. He was attempting this rigorous return 00:19:33.990 --> 00:19:36.569 to classicism. So what did that look like? What 00:19:36.569 --> 00:19:39.210 was the focus? The focus shifted intensely to 00:19:39.210 --> 00:19:42.329 precise drawing, emphasizing hard, crisp outlines 00:19:42.329 --> 00:19:45.289 around the figures, discipline over spontaneity. 00:19:45.390 --> 00:19:47.470 The result must have looked jarringly different 00:19:47.470 --> 00:19:49.670 from the soft, diffused light of something like 00:19:49.670 --> 00:19:52.109 Moulin de la Galette. Oh, almost antithetical. 00:19:52.230 --> 00:19:54.960 You see it. very clearly in works like the later 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:56.859 versions of the blonde bather and especially 00:19:56.859 --> 00:19:59.180 in the big ambitious painting the large baiters 00:19:59.180 --> 00:20:02.579 which he worked on from 1884 to 1887. how are 00:20:02.579 --> 00:20:04.960 the figures different The figures become quite 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:07.940 rigid, very highly modeled, almost sculptural, 00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:10.740 and they seem encased in these hard outlines. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:14.460 It actively rejects the spontaneity and the atmospheric 00:20:14.460 --> 00:20:17.180 effects that had made him famous. It feels like 00:20:17.180 --> 00:20:19.279 an intellectual exercise, him trying to prove 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:22.200 to himself, maybe, that he could draw in that 00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:25.220 academic sense. But it often sacrificed the warmth 00:20:25.220 --> 00:20:27.299 and the sheer lifelikeness that his audience 00:20:27.299 --> 00:20:30.019 loved. And he used some significant figures as 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:31.980 models during this period, didn't he? He did. 00:20:32.430 --> 00:20:34.990 Suzanne Valadon, for instance, modeled for key 00:20:34.990 --> 00:20:37.750 pieces like The Large Bathers and also Dance 00:20:37.750 --> 00:20:40.170 at Boucherval. Valadon is a fascinating figure 00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:42.690 herself. She was an aspiring artist who also 00:20:42.690 --> 00:20:45.109 modeled for Degas and Toulouse -Lautrec. She 00:20:45.109 --> 00:20:47.089 clearly absorbed techniques from all of them, 00:20:47.130 --> 00:20:49.289 including Renoir's new focus on structure and 00:20:49.289 --> 00:20:51.589 line. And she went on to become a really significant 00:20:51.589 --> 00:20:54.289 painter in her own right, a major female artist 00:20:54.289 --> 00:20:56.730 of the period. That's incredible. And the woman 00:20:56.730 --> 00:20:59.609 who would become his wife and life partner also 00:20:59.609 --> 00:21:01.529 features prominently in his work from around 00:21:01.529 --> 00:21:04.049 this time or slightly earlier, Aline Chergo. 00:21:04.210 --> 00:21:07.630 Yes, Aline. She modeled for the very famous luncheon 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:10.230 of the boating party back in 1881, just before 00:21:10.230 --> 00:21:12.349 the big Italian trip. She's the woman on the 00:21:12.349 --> 00:21:14.970 left looking right out at us, playing with a 00:21:14.970 --> 00:21:17.589 little dog. So she was already central to his 00:21:17.589 --> 00:21:20.410 world, both domestic and artistic, even before 00:21:20.410 --> 00:21:22.789 the marriage. Okay, so after these years spent 00:21:22.789 --> 00:21:25.609 in this self -imposed classical severity, trying 00:21:25.609 --> 00:21:28.549 to master line like Ingres, he shifts again around 00:21:28.549 --> 00:21:32.309 1890. He finds his final, perhaps most recognizable 00:21:32.309 --> 00:21:35.670 style. How did he manage to synthesize these 00:21:35.670 --> 00:21:38.309 two extremes, the rigor of Ingres and the color 00:21:38.309 --> 00:21:41.000 and light of Impressionism? Well, this synthesis 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:43.500 is really the brilliance of his late career, 00:21:43.660 --> 00:21:45.759 I think. He essentially eased off the severe, 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:48.000 hard Ingres outline. He wasn't trying to encase 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.359 the figures anymore. He returned to using thinly 00:21:50.359 --> 00:21:53.160 brushed, vibrant color. So back towards Impressionism. 00:21:53.460 --> 00:21:56.940 Sort of, but not entirely. He retained the monumental 00:21:56.940 --> 00:22:00.019 solidity, the sense of volume and form that he 00:22:00.019 --> 00:22:02.539 had painstakingly rediscovered during his Ungerist 00:22:02.539 --> 00:22:05.599 period and his study in Italy. So the figures 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:07.720 in his late work possess the weight and presence 00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:10.460 of classicism, but they're bathed in the shimmering 00:22:10.460 --> 00:22:12.940 light and the rich, saturated color derived from 00:22:12.940 --> 00:22:15.319 his Impressionist discoveries. It's a fusion. 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:17.880 And the result was the main focus of his late 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:20.619 career. Those monumental nudes and also those 00:22:20.619 --> 00:22:23.839 very warm, intimate domestic scenes. Works like... 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:26.759 Girls at the Piano from 1892 or the later versions 00:22:26.759 --> 00:22:29.859 of the Grande Binews, The Bathers, the family 00:22:29.859 --> 00:22:32.119 unit really seems to solidify and become the 00:22:32.119 --> 00:22:35.000 absolute artistic epicenter of his life in this 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.160 final phase. In 1890, he married Aline Victorine 00:22:39.160 --> 00:22:41.559 Charigot, who was, what, about 20 years younger 00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:43.559 than him? That's right. And by that point, they 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:45.180 already had their first son, Pierre, who was 00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:48.460 born in 1885. Their two younger sons, Jean, the 00:22:48.460 --> 00:22:50.640 future filmmaker, and Claude, the future ceramicist, 00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:52.799 soon followed. And they all became subjects for 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:55.900 his paintings. Constantly. Aline, the children 00:22:55.900 --> 00:22:58.819 Pierre, Jean, Claude, and also Aline's cousin, 00:22:58.940 --> 00:23:01.200 Gabrielle Renard, who came to live with them 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:03.319 and served as the children's nurse and Renoir's 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:05.619 frequent model. They became his absolute favorite 00:23:05.619 --> 00:23:08.180 subjects. This period gave us those really beautiful, 00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:11.259 warm, unguarded scenes of daily family life. 00:23:11.539 --> 00:23:13.799 Some of his most cherished and personal works 00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:15.799 come from this time. It sounds like a period 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:19.309 of real domestic and artistic harmony. But tragically, 00:23:19.349 --> 00:23:22.170 it coincided almost exactly with the onset of 00:23:22.170 --> 00:23:24.569 the defining physical struggle of his later life. 00:23:24.670 --> 00:23:28.049 Yes, it's a cruel irony. Around 1892, Renoir 00:23:28.049 --> 00:23:30.329 began developing symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. 00:23:30.769 --> 00:23:32.809 And this wasn't just minor aches and pains. No, 00:23:32.869 --> 00:23:35.450 not at all. This was a progressive, degenerative, 00:23:35.450 --> 00:23:38.259 and incredibly painful condition. The sources 00:23:38.259 --> 00:23:41.299 note that by 1907, the pain and stiffness, particularly 00:23:41.299 --> 00:23:43.980 aggravated by the damp northern climate, became 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:46.819 so bad that he decided to move. He relocated 00:23:46.819 --> 00:23:49.619 the family south to Le Colette, a farm in Cagnes 00:23:49.619 --> 00:23:51.680 -sur -Mer, down in Provence near the Mediterranean 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.519 coast, seeking the warmth. It's truly astonishing 00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:56.880 when you consider the sheer volume and the quality 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:58.799 of the work he produced during his final two 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:01.559 decades. The arthritis led to progressive... 00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:04.599 quite severe deformities in his hands, limiting 00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:06.980 the mobility in his joints, and specifically 00:24:06.980 --> 00:24:09.680 ankylosis, which is the fusion of joints in his 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:12.180 right shoulder. That must have severely restricted 00:24:12.180 --> 00:24:14.400 his ability to even lift his arm or maneuver 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:17.079 a canvas. The physical constraint was immense, 00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:20.519 almost unimaginable for a painter. Yet somehow, 00:24:20.859 --> 00:24:23.480 he continued to paint, often on a large scale. 00:24:23.900 --> 00:24:26.019 And this is where we need to address that very 00:24:26.019 --> 00:24:28.579 pervasive myth in our history, the one about 00:24:28.579 --> 00:24:30.460 the brush being strapped to his hand. Right. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:32.720 It's such a powerful, almost cinematic image, 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.259 isn't it? The determined artist overcoming paralysis. 00:24:35.700 --> 00:24:38.279 But our sources clarify that this widely reported 00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:40.640 story isn't actually accurate. That's right. 00:24:40.779 --> 00:24:43.039 The idea that the brush was literally physically 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:45.759 strapped to his paralyzed fingers is erroneous. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.640 He actually retained the ability to grasp a brush, 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.960 albeit. perhaps weekly, and with great difficulty. 00:24:52.259 --> 00:24:54.700 So what was the reality then? The reality was 00:24:54.700 --> 00:24:56.619 that the immense pain and the lack of mobility, 00:24:56.839 --> 00:24:59.000 especially in his shoulder and arm, meant he 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:01.279 often couldn't lift his arms efficiently or position 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:04.440 the brush himself. He absolutely required an 00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:06.660 assistant, often Gabrielle or one of his sons, 00:25:06.859 --> 00:25:09.559 to gently place the brush into his hand for every 00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:11.539 painting session. And the bandages we see in 00:25:11.539 --> 00:25:13.680 those late photographs? Those weren't for strapping 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:16.460 the brush on. There are actually protective wrappings, 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:19.299 used primarily to prevent skin irritation and 00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:22.299 sores caused by the constant friction of holding 00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:24.480 the brush and painting for hours with deformed 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:27.700 joints. not to anchor the brush itself. That 00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:30.039 distinction, knowing he could still grasp but 00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:32.799 needed help placing the brush, somehow that makes 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:35.460 the story even more profound. It wasn't just 00:25:35.460 --> 00:25:37.700 about fighting physical limitation. It was about 00:25:37.700 --> 00:25:41.380 profound daily dependence on others just to begin 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:44.279 the act of creation, a complete reversal for 00:25:44.279 --> 00:25:46.660 a man who had been so fiercely independent. It 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:49.819 speaks volumes about the sheer internal compulsion 00:25:49.819 --> 00:25:52.319 to create, doesn't it? It just had to come out. 00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:54.880 And he found remarkable ways to adapt his methods, 00:25:54.940 --> 00:25:57.140 too. Like what? Well, because of his limited 00:25:57.140 --> 00:25:59.119 joint mobility, not being able to move his elbow 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:02.440 or shoulder very much, he utilized this unique 00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:06.180 creative setup, a moving canvas or picture roll. 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:08.279 It was like a long scroll of canvas on rollers. 00:26:08.579 --> 00:26:10.900 How did that help? It allowed him to work on 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:14.299 large paintings section by section. He could 00:26:14.299 --> 00:26:16.579 have a section rolled into view. painted, and 00:26:16.579 --> 00:26:19.019 then have his assistant crank the scroll to bring 00:26:19.019 --> 00:26:21.380 the next section up or down, without him having 00:26:21.380 --> 00:26:24.019 to physically move his body or stretch his painfully 00:26:24.019 --> 00:26:27.380 limited arm across a huge surface. Very ingenious. 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:29.700 Absolutely. And then when the arthritis progressed 00:26:29.700 --> 00:26:31.500 to the point where holding even a brush became 00:26:31.500 --> 00:26:34.000 nearly impossible sometimes, he turned to a medium 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:37.019 that seems even more physically demanding, sculpture. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:39.599 This is perhaps his most resourceful adaptation, 00:26:40.140 --> 00:26:42.819 and maybe the most surprising. Since he obviously 00:26:42.819 --> 00:26:45.019 could no longer manipulate clay directly with 00:26:45.019 --> 00:26:47.859 his severely deformed hands, he formed a collaboration 00:26:47.859 --> 00:26:50.519 with a young, skilled sculptor named Richard 00:26:50.519 --> 00:26:53.180 Guino. So Guino is his hands? Essentially, yes. 00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:56.119 Renoir would direct the design. dictating the 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:58.680 forms, the pose, the overall composition, maybe 00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:01.380 making gestures or pointing with a stick, and 00:27:01.380 --> 00:27:03.440 Guino would execute these instructions in the 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.279 clay. This collaboration allowed Renoir to continue 00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:08.500 exploring the three -dimensional female form, 00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:10.940 which he had loved since his classical studies, 00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:13.720 long after his own physical body had effectively 00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:15.980 failed him in that regard. It's just a sheer 00:27:15.980 --> 00:27:18.680 testament to his creative will absolutely triumphing 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:21.160 over physical failure. Incredible resilience. 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:24.759 His final major public recognition came... Very 00:27:24.759 --> 00:27:28.380 fittingly, in the year of his death, 1919. Yes. 00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:31.480 He made a visit to the Louvre Museum in Paris. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:34.440 And there he saw his own paintings hanging on 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:37.019 the walls, displayed alongside those of the old 00:27:37.019 --> 00:27:40.380 masters Titian, Rubens, Raphael, the very masters 00:27:40.380 --> 00:27:42.440 who had caused his existential crisis decades 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:44.160 earlier. That must have been quite a moment. 00:27:44.380 --> 00:27:47.119 The ultimate validation, surely. confirmation 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:49.500 that his synthesis of classicism and impressionism 00:27:49.500 --> 00:27:51.700 had indeed secured his place within that great 00:27:51.700 --> 00:27:54.279 tradition he so admired. He died shortly thereafter, 00:27:54.539 --> 00:27:56.960 back in Cagnes -sur -Mer, at the age of 78. And 00:27:56.960 --> 00:27:58.940 his philosophy for continuing through all that 00:27:58.940 --> 00:28:01.579 agonizing pain is perfectly captured in that 00:28:01.579 --> 00:28:03.900 famous maxim his family continues to celebrate. 00:28:04.759 --> 00:28:06.920 It was the inspiration for his great grandson, 00:28:07.259 --> 00:28:10.720 Alexandre Renoir's exhibition title, Beauty Remains. 00:28:10.819 --> 00:28:13.460 Right. When people asked him inevitably why he 00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:15.400 persisted, why he kept painting through the chronic 00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:17.940 suffering, his response became the essence of 00:28:17.940 --> 00:28:21.079 his late career. The pain passes, but the beauty 00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:24.079 remains. That quote really is the perfect lens 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.019 through which to look at his massive legacy. 00:28:26.970 --> 00:28:29.670 Ranwar was extraordinarily prolific, wasn't he? 00:28:29.730 --> 00:28:32.329 Creating several thousand paintings over his 00:28:32.329 --> 00:28:35.529 long career. Thousands. His core characteristics, 00:28:35.529 --> 00:28:37.970 though, persisted despite all those stylistic 00:28:37.970 --> 00:28:40.250 shifts we talked about. That vibrant light, the 00:28:40.250 --> 00:28:42.670 saturated color, the focus on intimate, often 00:28:42.670 --> 00:28:45.329 candid compositions. And as we established right 00:28:45.329 --> 00:28:47.690 at the start, the female nude remained his definitive 00:28:47.690 --> 00:28:50.609 primary subject right to the end, a continual 00:28:50.609 --> 00:28:52.609 homage to the joy and abundance of the body. 00:28:52.940 --> 00:28:55.440 It's fascinating, though, to contrast that enduring 00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:58.799 focus on beauty with how his radical style was 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:01.400 initially received. We mentioned the critics 00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:04.220 were harsh. Let's maybe revisit the brutal specifics 00:29:04.220 --> 00:29:07.279 of that 1876 review in Le Figaro you mentioned 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:09.420 earlier. Oh, that quote. It's hard to forget. 00:29:09.460 --> 00:29:13.059 It's so visceral. The reviewer dismissively wrote 00:29:13.059 --> 00:29:15.279 that a woman's torso in one of Renoir's paintings 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:18.900 had, quote, a mass of decomposing flesh with 00:29:18.900 --> 00:29:21.680 those purplish green stains that denote a state 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:25.119 of complete putrefaction in a corpse. Good Lord. 00:29:25.259 --> 00:29:27.599 That is violent imagery. But if we break that 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:29.940 down, those purplish green stains the critics 00:29:29.940 --> 00:29:32.799 saw as decay, those were actually the colors 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:34.740 of diffuse reflection we discussed earlier, right? 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:37.269 Precisely. That was a reflection of the green 00:29:37.269 --> 00:29:39.190 landscape and the ambient blue light from the 00:29:39.190 --> 00:29:41.849 sky appearing in the shadows on the skin. The 00:29:41.849 --> 00:29:44.470 critic was expecting the smooth, idealized, almost 00:29:44.470 --> 00:29:47.490 porcelain flesh tones and the predictable brown 00:29:47.490 --> 00:29:49.990 shadows taught in the academies. And Renoir gave 00:29:49.990 --> 00:29:51.769 them something different. He was giving them 00:29:51.769 --> 00:29:54.910 living flesh rendered in the complexity of modern 00:29:54.910 --> 00:29:58.410 outdoor light and a conservative eye unprepared 00:29:58.410 --> 00:30:01.279 for it. interpreted that vibrancy, that broken 00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:04.259 color as decay. It just shows how profoundly 00:30:04.259 --> 00:30:07.579 misunderstood, how truly radical the Impressionists 00:30:07.579 --> 00:30:10.319 were initially. Of course, his style didn't just 00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:12.759 arrive fully formed overnight. The sources point 00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:15.940 to earlier works like Diana from 1867 as showing 00:30:15.940 --> 00:30:18.200 some of his formative influences. Yeah, Diana 00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:20.579 is a great example from before his fully Impressionist 00:30:20.579 --> 00:30:23.240 phase. It clearly shows the influence of Gustave 00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:25.660 Courbet's realism, especially in the solid handling 00:30:25.660 --> 00:30:28.200 of the figure and the luminosity. And it features 00:30:28.200 --> 00:30:31.220 his early mistress, Lise Trejo, again. But even 00:30:31.220 --> 00:30:33.339 in this early work, you can see Renoir is already 00:30:33.339 --> 00:30:35.799 injecting his own heightened personal response 00:30:35.799 --> 00:30:38.680 to female sensuality. His figures feel different, 00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:41.559 maybe warmer, than Courbet's more objective realism. 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:44.400 Now, in terms of collections, if our listeners 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:46.559 want to really absorb the full weight and range 00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:48.859 of his career today, where should they go? Well, 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:50.859 interestingly, the single largest collection 00:30:50.859 --> 00:30:53.299 of his work isn't in France, but in the United 00:30:53.299 --> 00:30:57.759 States. A truly staggering 181 paintings are 00:30:57.759 --> 00:30:59.759 housed at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. 00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:04.000 181. Wow. Why such a concentration in one place? 00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:07.119 Was the collector, Dr. Barnes, particularly focused 00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:10.559 on Renoir? He was. Dr. Albert Barnes was one 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.319 of the earliest and most aggressive collectors 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:15.339 of modern European art, especially Impressionist 00:31:15.339 --> 00:31:17.799 and Post -Impressionist works. He bought them 00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:19.740 at a time when many traditional museums still 00:31:19.740 --> 00:31:22.430 undervalued them. Barnes in particular saw the 00:31:22.430 --> 00:31:25.190 continuity between Renoir's late monumental nudes 00:31:25.190 --> 00:31:27.890 and the great tradition of painting, maybe linking 00:31:27.890 --> 00:31:30.289 them back to Titian and Rubens. So he made a 00:31:30.289 --> 00:31:32.470 very deliberate effort to acquire works spanning 00:31:32.470 --> 00:31:34.789 the depth and range of Renoir's entire career. 00:31:35.009 --> 00:31:37.490 That makes sense. Now, regarding that massive 00:31:37.490 --> 00:31:39.009 output, several thousand paintings, the whole 00:31:39.009 --> 00:31:40.890 process of authenticating them must be ongoing 00:31:40.890 --> 00:31:43.009 and complex. We should probably mention the catalog 00:31:43.009 --> 00:31:46.319 raisonne. Right. A catalog raisonne. is essentially 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:48.799 meant to be a complete, annotated listing of 00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:52.259 all the known authentic works by an artist. Renoir's 00:31:52.259 --> 00:31:54.559 major five -volume catalog was published over 00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:57.059 many years by the dealership Bernheim -Jean. 00:31:57.160 --> 00:31:59.279 Why them specifically? They were really the only 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:01.799 surviving major dealers who had worked extensively 00:32:01.799 --> 00:32:04.000 and directly with Renoir during his lifetime. 00:32:04.779 --> 00:32:07.680 But, as you can imagine, with such a massive, 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:10.759 valuable body of work, the existence of a catalog 00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:12.920 doesn't stop contention. And we know this has 00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:14.759 actually become a matter of public interest, 00:32:14.900 --> 00:32:17.140 right? Through TV shows and things. Exactly. 00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:19.759 The sources note there's ongoing disagreement 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:22.440 sometimes over authentication standards and specific 00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:25.140 attributions. For instance, between the holders 00:32:25.140 --> 00:32:27.920 of the Bernheim Schoen Archive and other organizations 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:30.700 like the Wildenstein Institute, which was famously 00:32:30.700 --> 00:32:33.140 featured on the BBC television show Fake or Fortune, 00:32:33.259 --> 00:32:36.059 several times regarding Renoir works. Why is 00:32:36.059 --> 00:32:38.500 it so complex with Renoir? Well, the sheer volume 00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:41.799 of his output. Combined with perhaps less rigorous 00:32:41.799 --> 00:32:44.200 documentation practices during the early struggling 00:32:44.200 --> 00:32:47.359 Impressionist years means the art market is constantly 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:50.519 working to establish provenance and confirm authenticity 00:32:50.519 --> 00:32:53.960 even over a century after his death. It's a minefield 00:32:53.960 --> 00:32:56.700 sometimes. But despite those occasional contentions, 00:32:56.700 --> 00:32:59.400 the value of the unquestionably authenticated 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:02.900 work remains immense. Astronomical, even. Oh, 00:33:02.980 --> 00:33:05.359 staggering. Yeah. The monetary value is probably 00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:07.839 best exemplified by the sale of a smaller, earlier 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:10.839 version of the iconic Belle Moulin de la Galette. 00:33:11.099 --> 00:33:15.619 It sold for $78 .1 million back in 1990 at Sotheby's 00:33:15.619 --> 00:33:17.839 in New York, still one of the highest prices 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:19.779 ever paid for an Impressionist work at option. 00:33:19.960 --> 00:33:21.680 Incredible. And finally, there's an anecdote 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:24.500 that really shows the strange life these masterpieces 00:33:24.500 --> 00:33:26.880 can lead once they leave the artist's studio 00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:29.240 and enter the world. Ah, yes, the intriguing 00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:31.519 incident surrounding the painting Passage Boards 00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:33.529 the Seine. landscape on the banks of the Seine. 00:33:33.549 --> 00:33:35.829 In 2012, an auction house was preparing to sell 00:33:35.829 --> 00:33:38.250 this small landscape, which had turned up, apparently, 00:33:38.430 --> 00:33:40.869 at a flea market. A flea market find. Seriously. 00:33:41.089 --> 00:33:43.529 That was the story. But the sale was abruptly 00:33:43.529 --> 00:33:45.849 canceled just before the auction when research 00:33:45.849 --> 00:33:47.450 revealed that the painting had actually been 00:33:47.450 --> 00:33:49.890 stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art way back 00:33:49.890 --> 00:33:53.269 in 1951 and had been missing ever since. No way. 00:33:53.710 --> 00:33:56.549 Sixty years later. Sixty years later. It just 00:33:56.549 --> 00:33:58.829 highlights how these objects, these symbols of 00:33:58.829 --> 00:34:01.049 beauty and culture, can sometimes get caught 00:34:01.049 --> 00:34:04.250 up in these decades -long hidden sagas of theft, 00:34:04.390 --> 00:34:08.269 loss, and human mystery. It's a wild story. But 00:34:08.269 --> 00:34:10.769 the core of the man himself, Renoir, was never 00:34:10.769 --> 00:34:13.010 really about the market value or the intrigue, 00:34:13.010 --> 00:34:15.469 was it? It was always about that compulsion to 00:34:15.469 --> 00:34:18.389 capture light, life, and pleasure even, or maybe 00:34:18.389 --> 00:34:21.530 especially. when facing darkness and pain. Renoir's 00:34:21.530 --> 00:34:23.829 life, when you look back at it, truly was this 00:34:23.829 --> 00:34:26.670 narrative of constant transformation, but also 00:34:26.670 --> 00:34:29.070 incredible resilience. He started in poverty, 00:34:29.309 --> 00:34:31.789 jumped into radical impressionism, then consciously 00:34:31.789 --> 00:34:34.010 rejected that for a period of rigorous classicism, 00:34:34.050 --> 00:34:36.750 and finally achieved this amazing synthesis as 00:34:36.750 --> 00:34:39.170 the master of the monumental robust nude in his 00:34:39.170 --> 00:34:42.019 later years. And the greatest drama of his life, 00:34:42.139 --> 00:34:45.059 I think, really rests in that final phase, that 00:34:45.059 --> 00:34:48.079 stark, almost unbelievable contrast between the 00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:50.860 physical reality he inhabited every day and the 00:34:50.860 --> 00:34:53.480 sheer physical joy he chose to put on the canvas. 00:34:53.940 --> 00:34:56.900 Absolutely. For 20 years, Renoir's daily existence 00:34:56.900 --> 00:34:59.940 was defined by acute chronic pain, by increasing 00:34:59.940 --> 00:35:02.179 dependence on others, by progressive physical 00:35:02.179 --> 00:35:05.000 deformity. Yet the work he produced during that 00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:07.940 exact same time, those great late nudes, the 00:35:07.940 --> 00:35:09.719 scenes of domestic harmony at late... Colette, 00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:12.260 are arguably his most joyous, most abundant, 00:35:12.420 --> 00:35:15.199 most sensual celebrations of life, light, and 00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:17.579 the physical world. He absolutely did not paint 00:35:17.579 --> 00:35:19.480 the suffering. He painted the antidote to it. 00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:22.000 He focused on this vibrant, robust beauty, even 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:24.300 as his own body was failing him. He was literally 00:35:24.300 --> 00:35:26.599 living out the truth of his own philosophy. The 00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:29.519 pain passes, but the beauty remains. It forces 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:32.300 you to look again at those late, almost aggressively 00:35:32.300 --> 00:35:35.219 joyful bathers from around 1918 near the very 00:35:35.219 --> 00:35:37.860 end. You see them not just as simple defections 00:35:37.860 --> 00:35:40.579 of the female figure, but as this powerful assertion 00:35:40.579 --> 00:35:43.380 of enduring vitality, of pleasure, of life itself. 00:35:44.340 --> 00:35:46.599 Renoir was essentially performing an act of creative 00:35:46.599 --> 00:35:49.480 defiance against his own physical agony every 00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:52.039 time he picked up that brush, or directed Guino 00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:54.710 with the clay. So what does this all mean for 00:35:54.710 --> 00:35:56.829 you, the listener, thinking about Renoir today? 00:35:57.210 --> 00:35:59.869 We've traced his journey from those early naturalistic 00:35:59.869 --> 00:36:02.309 studies of youth and vitality, like Lys with 00:36:02.309 --> 00:36:04.909 the parasol, all the way to the final, abundant, 00:36:05.010 --> 00:36:06.969 almost overwhelming celebration of the flesh 00:36:06.969 --> 00:36:09.550 in his late batters. Given his famous maxim, 00:36:09.730 --> 00:36:12.269 the pain passes, but the beauty remains, what 00:36:12.269 --> 00:36:14.630 does it truly signify that Renoir chose to dedicate 00:36:14.630 --> 00:36:17.349 his last two decades, decades defined by acute, 00:36:17.469 --> 00:36:19.809 constant physical pain, to painting the most 00:36:19.809 --> 00:36:22.449 robust, the most physically joyous, the most 00:36:22.570 --> 00:36:24.710 seemingly untroubled representations of life's 00:36:24.710 --> 00:36:27.190 physical pleasure. When things feel difficult 00:36:27.190 --> 00:36:29.949 or temporary or painful in your own world, what 00:36:29.949 --> 00:36:31.969 enduring beauty are you choosing to focus on?