Englishman born in France, and Auguste Renoir, the son of a Parisian tailor, all came to study painting in the free studio of professor Charles Gleyre in 1862.
Mouth of the Seine River in Honfleur
Claude Monet, 1865
Oil on canvas, 89.5 × 150.5 cm
The Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena (California)
For them, Gleyre was the embodiment of the classical school of art. At the time he met the future Impressionists, Charles Gleyre was sixty years old. Born in Switzerland, on the shore of Lake Lean, he had lived in France since his childhood. Having graduated from the School of Fine Arts, Gleyre spent six years in Italy.
Avenue of Chestnut Trees near La Celle-Saint-Cloud
Alfred Sisley, 1865
Oil on canvas, 129.5 × 208 cm
Musée du Petit Palais, Paris
His success in the Paris Salon made him famous. Gleyre taught in the studio organized by the famous salon artist Hippolyte Delaroche. The professor painted huge pieces based on themes from the Holy Scriptures and ancient mythology built with classical clarity. The modeling of his feminine nudes could only be compared to works of the great Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.
Women in the Garden
Claude Monet, 1866
Oil on canvas, 256 × 208 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Auguste Renoir, in his conversations with his son, the great movie director Jean Renoir, said that the best part of his education took place in the studio. He described his professor as “a powerful Swiss, bearded and short-sighted” (Jean Renoir, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, my father, Paris, Gallimard, 1981, p.114).
Boats in the Port of Honfleur
Claude Monet, 1866
Oil on canvas, 49 × 65 cm
Private collection
According to Renoir, the studio that was located in the Latin Quarter on the left bank of the Seine was “a big bare room, filled with young people leaning on their easels. To the north, a bay window enabled grey light to pour in over the objects under observation” (op. cit. and loc. cit.). The students were all very different.
Beach at Sainte-Adresse
Claude Monet, 1908
Oil on canvas, 75.8 × 102.5 cm
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Young men from rich families who “played artists” came to the studio in black velvet jackets and berets. Claude Monet called this bourgeois group of students – ‘the spices’. A white painter’s blouse worn by Renoir fuelled their mockery, but Renoir, just like his new friends, ignored them.
Lady in the Garden (Sainte-Adresse)
Claude Monet, 1867
Oil on canvas, 80 × 99 cm
The Hermitage, Saint-Petersburg
Jean Renoir wrote, “he was there to learn how to draw figures. He quickly covered his paper with charcoal lines and, the drawing of a calf or the curve of a hand completely absorbed him” (op. cit., p.114). For Renoir and his friends, these lessons were not a game, although Gleyre was bewildered by the amazing skill with which Renoir worked.
The Railway Bridge, Argenteuil
Claude Monet, 1873
Oil on canvas, 54 × 71 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Renoir imitated his professor’s reproaches with that amusing Swiss accent which made students laugh, “young man, you are very skillful, very talented, but one says you come for fun – It is evident, my father responds” Jean Renoir wrote, “if it did not amuse me, I would not paint!” (Jean Renoir, op. cit., p.119).
The Cliff at Dieppe
Claude Monet, 1882
Oil on canvas, 65 × 81 cm
Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich
In this studio, the students learned traditional classical education freed from the form requirements of the French Academy of Fine Arts. The four future Impressionists were seriously inclined to learn the basics of painting and the classical technique. They tediously studied the nudes and took all the mandatory courses winning awards for drawing, perspective, anatomy, and precision.
Portrait of Madame Gaudibert
Claude Monet, 1868
Oil on canvas, 217 × 138 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
They acquired the essential knowledge of technique and technology of painting, the mastery of the classical composition, precision of the drawing and the beauty of the line, although later the critics frequently mocked the Impressionists for what they regarded as the lack of these very skills. All of the future Impressionists would receive praise from their teacher from time to time.
Snowy Landscape
Auguste Renoir, 1868
Oil on canvas, 51 × 66 cm
Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris
One day, to please the professor, Renoir painted a nude model following all the rules, as he would say, “a caramel-coloured flesh emerges from asphalt, black like the night, a caressing backlight which highlights the shoulder, the tortured expression that accompanies the stomach cramps” (J. Renoir, op. cit., p.119).
Interior
Edgar Degas, ca. 1868–69
Oil on canvas, 81 × 116 cm
Philadelphia
