He began work as an apprentice porcelain painter but lost his position when a method of applying images to porcelain by machine was developed.

In 1862, he became a student at the Atelier Gleyre. There, he met Monet, Bazille and Sisley.

He spent some time in a cavalry regiment during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 - 1871.

Renoir, like many of his friends, often had work rejected by the official Salon, so he was very willing to take part in the exhibition of 1874 that first brought the Impressionists to the attention of the general public - thought not quite as they hoped. Renoir exhibited La Loge, which, like other works, was heavily criticised.

A visit to Italy in 1881 more or less marked the end of Renoir's period of 'pure' Impressionism. Influenced by the Renaissance works that he had seen in Italy, Renoir began to pay much more attention to drawing. He also gave up the Impressionist technique of applying colour in small strokes, choosing instead to return to a more traditional smooth surface.

The new constraints which he had thus imposed upon himself were short-lived but productive. One of the principal products of this period was Les Grandes Baigneuses, a painting of women bathers that required three years of work.

Renoir married his model, Aline Charigot, after the birth of their son, Pierre, in 1885. Two more boys followed: Jean (later a noted film director) in 1894 and Claude in 1901.

In later life, Renoir suffered from rheumatism. Eventually it became so bad that he was unable even to hold his brushes and had to work with them tied to his hands. He took up sculpture but was only able to make one piece unaided - a portrait of his son, Claude. His other sculptures were produced by helpers working under his direction.

Renoir died at Cagnes in 1919, at the age of 78.