Renoir: Father and Son/Painting and Cinema

Orson Welles described filmmaker Jean Renoir (1894–1979), son of renowned impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, as “the greatest of all directors.” 

This exhibition aims to retrace chapters of Jean’s production through the course of a rich and fascinating dialogue between father and son. If Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s artistic practice and creative universe influenced Jean’s art, Jean’s films shed light on his father’s paintings. Focusing on core themes in Jean’s works, such as his vision and recreation of Paris, the exhibition will examine his path to becoming a prominent international filmmaker, bringing together paintings, drawings, films, costumes, and photos—as well as the ceramics he made before he turned to cinema. 

The Barnes Foundation, with its collection of Jean Renoir pottery in addition to 181 works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, will provide a poignant setting for exploring this complex, fruitful relationship between painting and cinema.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image: Jean as a Huntsman, 1910, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir; oil on canvas. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Whether you go or not, the exhibition catalog, Renoir: Father and Son / Painting and Cinema, demonstrates how Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s artistic practice and creative universe influenced his son Jean’s art, and how Jean’s films shed new light on his father’s paintings. Focusing on leitmotifs in both artists’ works, this volume commingles paintings, drawings, films, costumes, photographs, and ceramics. Contributions from the Barnes Foundation, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Cinémathèque Française provide in-depth insight.  Beloved Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir left a vibrant legacy that influenced the life and films of his son, the acclaimed director Jean Renoir. The Impressionist paintings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir are characterized by portraits and lively episodes from daily life. These joyful scenes influenced the life and work of his son, filmmaker Jean Renoir.

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