Renoir's Nudes (Universe of Art)

by Isabelle Cahn

Auguste Renoir, quite understandably, is the most popular and easily understood painter of the Impressionist period. Even in his arthritic old age, Renoir never ceased to find inspiration in the female body, happily placing himself in the opulent tradition of Titian, Rubens, and Courbet, whose work he studied and raised to a new power. Renoir favored and sought a particular physical type, characterized by round, heart-shaped faces, snub noses, narrow, almond-shaped eyes, blushing cheeks, and wide, rose-colored mouths. Among his preferred models were Aline Charigot, Nini, Gabrielle Renard, a cousin of his wife, and Lise Trehot. Even when working from the model in his studio, Renoir portrayed the nubile subjects in dappled landscapes, some of the scenes inspired by antiquity and mythology, others taken from the green pastures of northern France or the Mediterranean lushness of the South, where he built a house at Cagnes in 1907. Here are all of Renoir's most gorgeous nudes, gentle beauty