Pierre-Auguste Renoir is French painter who was important figure in the development of the Impressionist movement. The female nudes were one of his primary themes. His early work reflected many influences including those of Courbet, Manet, Corot, Ingres and Delacroix. Under the influence of Gustave Courbet and painters of the School of Barbizon he turned to plein air painting. Together with Claude Monet he develops the new painting style of Impressionism around 1870; Renoir is regarded as one of its main representatives. He partakes in three group exhibitions of the Impressionists, for financial reasons he then again shows works at the conventional salons. Renoir first began to experiment with pastel in the mid-1870s, shortly after Manet and Degas, and his interest in the medium intensified during the following decade. In contrast to his drawings, which he exhibited infrequently, he considered his pastels integral part of his oeuvre and regularly showed them in public.
