Pierre-Auguste Renoir, influential French artist and key figure of Impressionism.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir rose from humble beginnings to become one of France’s most fashionable painters. Today, he is best-remembered as a pioneer of Impressionism; his paintings celebrate beauty and sensuality, and his ability to capture movement and light with loose brushstrokes secured his reputation as one of the most important artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Renoir was incredibly prolific throughout his career, having created over 6,000 paintings by the time of his death in 1919. Yet, although he is primarily thought of as a painter, he was also a talented printmaker. Prints, in fact, account for 65% of his work sold at auction, where most fetch between £100 and £500, with a significant number achieving up to £5,000.
Below is a list of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s five most expensive prints sold at auction. If you own a Pierre-Auguste Renoir print and would like to know more about how much it might be worth, or how to sell it, why not contact Mark Littler today?
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Le Chapeau Épinglé, Deuxième Planche
This lithograph in colours dates from 1898, and it was based on a Renoir painting from a few years earlier titled Summer Hats, which depicted Julie Manet pinning flowers into her cousin’s hat. Julie Manet was the daughter of Berthe Morisot (a painter associated with the Impressionists) and Eugène Manet, also a painter, and the younger brother of the more famous Édouard Manet. Julie modelled frequently for many Impressionist artists, and when both of her parents died between 1892 and 1895, leaving her orphaned at 16, some of this circle (including Renoir) helped to support her.
Some sources claim it was Ambroise Vollard – the famous and influential French art dealer – who commissioned Renoir to create a lithograph of Summer Hats. The first version (known as the Première Planche) was published in 1897, and the Deuxième Planche followed a year later. Both versions are very similar, with only minor differences between them, and they are both extremely popular in today’s market; together, the two versions account for 25 of Renoir’s 30 most expensive prints sold at auction. This particular Deuxième Planche lithograph was sold by Sotheby’s in June 2010 for £171,885, setting a new record for the artist’s prints.
Le Chapeau Épinglé, Deuxième Planche sold by Sotheby’s in 2010
Enfants Jouant À La Balle
Though Renoir is widely regarded as one of the founding members of Impressionism, he also distanced himself from the movement at times. As he later said, “Around 1883 there occurred what seemed to be a break in my work. I had wrung Impressionism dry, and I finally came to the conclusion that I knew neither how to paint or draw.” For a time, Renoir abandoned the style which had made his name, and he instead adopted a more formal, linear approach that bore many similarities to the work of the Neoclassical painter, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres; as a result, this has become known as Renoir’s ‘dry’ or ‘Ingres’ period.
By 1888, however, he’d changed his mind, declaring, “I have taken up again, never to abandon it, my old style, soft and light of touch.” Indeed, throughout the 1890s, Renoir returned to a gentler, more lyrical style of painting, often focusing on charming, domestic scenes of contemporary bourgeois life. This print (believed to be from around 1900) is exemplary of this new direction. Full of movement and light, it depicts a group of young, carefree girls playing and chasing each other; the print was sold by Sotheby’s in October 1998 for £47,808, and it is regularly found among Renoir’s most sought-after prints at auction.
Enfants Jouant À La Balle sold by Sotheby’s in 1998
Baigneuse, Debout, En Pied
Renoir is often celebrated for his nudes embodying feminine sensuality, and bathing figures were among his favourite subjects, frequently appearing in his most well-known and influential paintings, such as Les Grandes Baigneuses. This lithograph in colours dates from 1896, and, like many of Renoir’s prints, it was published by Ambroise Vollard, who came to have a very lucrative commercial relationship with the painter. The print was sold by Sotheby’s in April 2005 for £39,338, more than £13,000 above its top estimate.
Baigneuse, Debout, En Pied sold by Sotheby’s in 2005
Jean Renoir (L’Enfant Au Biscuit)
Dating from the last years of the 19th century, this print depicts one of Renoir’s three sons, Jean, who would go on to make his name in the film industry. By the time of this print, Renoir had married Aline Charigot, who was significantly younger than him, and who had already been his model for several years. The marriage seems to have been a happy one, with Jean Renoir later recalling that, “With her intuitive, rustic understanding, [Aline] saw that Renoir was made for painting the way vines are made to produce wine.” Renoir’s contented family life led him to depict many scenes of blissful domesticity in his work from this time; this print is a prime example, and it was sold by Sotheby’s in February 1990 for £36,093.
Jean Renoir (L’Enfant Au Biscuit) sold by Sotheby’s in 1990
Jeune Femme En Buste, Mademoiselle Diéterle
Dating from 1899, this monochrome lithograph depicts Amélie Diéterle, a popular French actress and opera singer who modelled several times for Renoir. The print was created after Renoir first developed rheumatoid arthritis (which grew gradually worse until, towards the end of his life, he found it hard to hold a brush), yet the lines are still impressively delicate and full of movement, lending the singer a dreamy, ethereal aspect. The print was sold by the Swiss auction house, Galerie Kornfeld & Cie, in June 1990 for £26,188.
Jeune Femme En Buste, Mademoiselle Diéterle sold by Galerie Kornfeld in 1990
