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'There is something in painting which cannot be explained, and that something is essential.' - Renoir (1841-1919). Born in Limoges, Pierre-Auguste Renoir learned to paint porcelain as a young apprentice in 1854 and by the 1870s he had moved to Montmartre, possibly the happiest time in his creative biography where he found his plein-air subjects, his models and even his new family. He sold his first painting at the unsuccessful sale that he, Monet, Sisley and Berthe Morisot organised in the Hotel Drouot in 1875. Some of his finest paintings were of the little, neglected garden by the studio that he rented. At the Impressionist Exhibition of the 1870s Renoir mainly presented portraits and once married depicted his wife in such paintings as The Luncheon of the Boating Party in a fanciful, fashionable hat holding a Pekinese in her hands. Here are his many nudes, dancing figures, Parisian life, Les Parapluis, Girl with Cat, couples, horse riders, Odalisque and harem figures in all their sensual beauty, female dancers, reclining nudes, bathers and washerwomen. Pocket sized softback, approximately 100 full page colour plates, index and biographical text. 140pp.