Catherine de Duve - The Little Renoir: The joy of painting

For my dear friends
Sophie and Marie-Odile

The Little Van Gogh

The Little Renoir

The Little Monet

The Little Degas

The Little Klimt

The Little Turner

The Little Bruegel

The Little Van Eyck

The Little Rubens

The Little Czanne

The Little Waterloo

Marie-Antoinette

A History of Belgium for children

Before you start reading, take a sheet of paper and several pencils.
You will need them to do the exercises.

Whenever you see this pencil, it is your turn to play!

Renoir liked to paint happiness and you?

Portraits

Family life

The Art and Life of Renoir

Small dogs

Graceful dancers

His friends at the ball

Beautiful women

Children and their games

Boaters on a Sunday

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on 25th February 1841, in Limoges, central France. His father, Leonard, was a humble tailor and his mother, Marguerite, a dressmaker. He was one of seven children. The family moved to Paris in the hope of finding better work and living conditions. Renoir had a talent for art and singing. His school teacher, Charles Gounod, asked him to sing in the choir. But Renoirs father encouraged him to learn to paint on porcelain, a traditional craft in his hometown.

Charles Gounod (18181893) was a French composer. He composed religious arrangements and operas, including Faust and Romeo and Juliet.

Its your turn to decorate this porcelain teacup and teapot, just like Renoir used to do.

When Renoir was 13, he had to leave school to help his parents. He became an apprentice at a porcelain-decorating workshop. He painted delicate bouquets of flowers and portraits on teacups, plates and vases, as well as taking drawing classes. Soon though, the industry started using transfers instead of hand painting and Renoir was out of a job. He went on to paint fans and church banners, as well as decorating coats of arms for his brother. He worked quickly with great creativity.

Coat of arms: In the Middle Ages, families, communities, towns and corporations had their own distinctive crest (drawing), colours and motto, known as a shield, coat of arms or heraldic bearings. Draw a coat of arms for your family or school and colour it in.

Renoir dreamed of becoming an artist one day! A real artist! He was given permission to make copies of the magnificent pieces of art in the Louvre. How marvellous! The works of the great masters filled room after room.

Rubens

Follow in Renoirs footsteps. Stroll around museums and let the paintings inspire you.

Delacroix

He admired the voluptuous women painted by Rubens and found inspiration in the lightness and joy of paintings by Fragonard and Boucher. He was happy in this environment. He also loved Delacroixs paintings of oriental women as well as Watteaus life-size Pierrot the clown.

Watteau

Fragonard

Boucher

When Renoir was 21 his dream became reality as he entered the School of Fine Arts. He learned to copy and paint historical scenes. He was a diligent student but his teachers did not think him particularly talented. He also went to Swiss artist Charles Gleyres private art studio. He met a lot of other young artists there, such as Sisley, Monet and Bazille. They all became good friends.