It was the beauty of the world that inspired Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
He loved to paint families strolling in the park, young couples dancing at a ball, and children playing in the sun.
He began as a humble painter decorating porcelain vases,
and eventually he became one of the world's most significant painters and the father of Impressionism.
Renoir was born in 1841 in Limoges, a small French town.
His father was a tailor and his mother a dressmaker.
When Renoir was four years old, his family moved to Paris in search of a better life.
The family lived very close to the Louvre, a large museum with the richest collection of art in France.
The young Renoir spent long days there, looking at the old masters' paintings, deeply inspired by their beauty.
His favorite artist was Peter Paul Rubens, whose art continued to influence him throughout his life.
As a young schoolboy, Renoir covered his schoolbooks with drawings.
His parents urged him to put his artistic talents to use and helped him get a job at a porcelain factory.
There Renoir learned to paint delicate flower patterns on porcelain vases.
He was a fast learner and soon became a very successful painter.
His career came to an end, however, when a new mechanical process for printing designs onto chinaware was introduced.
To earn a living, he copied onto women's fans the paintings he had seen at the Louvre as a child.
Then he sold the fans on the street.
But he knew that he wanted to do more with his life he dreamed of becoming an artist and creating paintings just like the ones he was copying.
In 1861 Renoir was penniless but determined to become an artist.
He enrolled in an art class in the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met other struggling artists who would become his lifelong friends.
Together with Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Camille Pissaro he would paint all day,
and then in the evenings, they would gather at cafes to discuss art.
One of their favorite gathering places was the Inn of Mother Anthony, which Renoir immortalized in one of his paintings.
The young artists were searching for new ways of painting and soon became known as the Impressionists.
The Impressionists believed in a new way of seeing.
They used many brushstrokes of different colors right next to each other on the canvas.
By this method, they captured a feeling of movement and light in their paintings.
Instead of smoothing the surface of the painting like artists before them, the Impressionists would leave traces of their brushstrokes visible.
They also went outside to paint, instead of staying in their studios.
The Impressionists packed their paintbrushes, paints, and easels and set out into nature, searching for inspiring landscapes.
This period of his studies was a difficult one for Renoir.
With almost no money, he often thought about giving up, but his passion for painting kept him going.
He kept thinking of the artists from the Louvre who he admired as a young child.
His artist friends always gave him a helping hand.
His friend Bazille offered to share his studio, and his friend Monet often gave him encouraging advice.
By 1863 Renoir was still trying to find his own painting style.
He was using dark and gloomy tones that never seemed right to him.
One day he was out painting in a park when an old man came to see his work.
He said to Renoir, "Your painting is good but why do you use such dark colors?
Don't you see the beauty around you?"
Renoir realized that he could paint the world as he wished to see it.
He began using fresh and light colors.
The old man turned out to be an established painter from Paris named Narcisse Diaz.
He helped Renoir by buying him painting supplies and introducing him to art dealers.
Renoir was able to get a few commissions to paint portraits, and this eased his financial worries.
One of Renoir's favorite subjects was the life of Parisians.
He loved to paint them dancing, walking in the park, enjoying a meal, or sitting at the opera.
He wanted to express the joy he saw in everyday life.
Renoir also loved to paint people socializing.
His studio was very close to a popular dance hall in Paris, where he spent almost one year sketching and painting scenes of dancing couples.
He was fascinated with the graceful movements of women when they danced.
By the time Renoir reached his forties, he was a well-established painter in Paris.
He lived well off his portrait commissions, often painting aristocrats, art dealers, and rich patrons.
In 1883 he had his first solo exhibition in Paris.
Even though he was becoming successful, he never stopped developing his own artistic style.
He traveled to Algeria in search of new and interesting subjects and painted the exotic landscapes he found there.
At the end of his career, Renoir returned to working in a classical style, similar to the paintings he copied from the Louvre in his youth.
Even though Renoir was crippled by arthritis and almost blind, he kept painting until his death in 1919.
Through his art he created his own world full of light, happiness, and promise.
His paintings continue to bring joy and optimism to millions of people today.