A family that became a workshop
Renoir's children
Pierre, Jean and Claude grow up under the gaze of a father who paints them constantly. The eldest becomes an actor, the second filmmaker, the youngest a ceramist. Around them, Aline Charigot and Gabrielle Renard transform the family home into a world of gestures, models and images transmitted from one generation to the next.
The Renoir circle
Five figures at the heart of the same story
The painter's official family consists of Auguste Renoir, Aline Charigot and their three sons. The home, however, expanded to include essential relatives, notably Gabrielle Renard, Aline's cousin, governess and model.
Augustus
A painter, he transforms his loved ones into models and his daily life into a repertoire of images.
Aline
Originally from Essoyes, model, companion then wife of Renoir and mother of his three sons.
Peter
A model from birth, he became a theater and cinema actor.
John
Painted as a child by his father, he became one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century.
Claude
Nicknamed Coco, he posed extensively before devoting himself to ceramics.
1885 · a painted birth
Aline and Pierre: the family enters the work
Pierre was born on March 21, 1885. In the months that followed, Renoir produced several drawings and paintings showing Aline breastfeeding the newborn. The Musée d'Orsay identifies in Maternity a recurring pose: the child holds his foot in his hand, while the two figures register in front of a simply suggested background of the countryside.
The subject is intimate, but it dialogues with a long tradition of the Virgin and Child. Renoir does not copy a religious model: he transposes an ancient structure into his recent experience of fatherhood. Aline wears contemporary clothing and the scene retains the simplicity of a moment lived.
The painting would probably have been started in Essoyes, Aline's native village, where Renoir stayed for the first time in the fall of 1885. The birth of Pierre therefore immediately linked the family to this place which would become one of his main centers of memory.
Three children · three ways
From silent models to artisans of their own image
The Musée d'Orsay summarizes siblings through three practices: Pierre the actor, Jean the filmmaker, Coco the ceramist. None becomes a painter in his father's sense, but each extends in his own way the relationship between body, gaze and matter.
The actor
The eldest moves from the role of model to that of actor. His job gives voice and movement to this presence that the paintings had fixed.
- Theater and cinema actor
- Accomplice of Louis Jouvet
- Directed by Jean in several films
The filmmaker
Jean transforms the painted figures, landscapes and sociability of his father's world into movements, voices and staging.
- First feature film in 1924
- The Great Illusion and The Rules of the Game
- Author of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, my father
The ceramist
The youngest, nicknamed Coco, is one of Renoir's favorite models of old age. As an adult, he chose direct work of earth and fire.
- Model in many portraits
- Trained in manual work in Collettes
- Ceramist rather than painter
Gabrielle, image-transmitter
Jean grew up between painting and first shows
Gabrielle Renard joined the home at the time of Jean's birth. Cousin of Aline, she becomes his governess, a major model of Renoir and a determining emotional presence. The paintings where she appears with the child show daily closeness rather than an official pose.
However, its role goes beyond the domestic framework. The Musée d'Orsay recalls that it takes young Jean to see the screenings organized in the Dufayel Department Stores. The woman who serves as a model for the painter thus becomes one of the first mediators between the child and animated images.
This transmission does not mean that Jean's films are simple moving paintings. The filmmaker rather takes up a way of inhabiting the world: taste for groups, circulation of desires, lived landscapes, dance and fragility of appearances. In Country party, the swing and the edges of the water naturally make the father's universe resonate without illustrating it.
The youngest as a show
Coco: ribbons, costume and freedom of portraiture
Claude is painted with exceptional abundance. Renoir explores his hair, his clothes and the roles that the child can take on. These images express both family tenderness and the freedom of pictorial play.
Claude says Coco
The portrait emphasizes the softness of the presence, the material of the hair and the harmony between the skin tone and the fabrics.
Claude as a clown
The costume transforms the session into a small theater. Coco is no longer just an observed son: he becomes a character.
A luminous pattern
Long hair allows Renoir to multiply reflections, without imposing the rigid codes of the adult masculine on the child's portrait.
Play a role
Ribbons, hats and disguises remind us that family is also a theater where identity is built in images.
From canvas to earth
Having become a ceramist, Claude would otherwise extend his father's taste for craftsmanship, handwork and the transformation of materials.
A creative house
Les Collettes: landscape, workshop and hand school
In Cagnes-sur-Mer, the Collettes property brings together olive trees, the painter's studio, family life and the artisanal experiences of the sons.
What children receive
- A house where creation is part of everyday life.
- Direct contact with models, merchants and artists.
- Respect for craftsmanship, inherited from their father's profession as a porcelain painter.
- A memory of places: Paris, Essoyes and Cagnes.
What they transform
- Pierre gives a living body to the characters through acting.
- Jean replaces the fixed frame with movement, duration and sound.
- Claude chooses ceramics and material transformation.
- Siblings help to transmit and have recognized the father's late work.
Beware of homonyms
Two Claude Renoirs not to be confused
≠
CLAUDE JR
Coco is the painter's son; Claude Junior is his grandson
Claude Renoir, known as Coco (1901 -1969), is the third son of Auguste and Aline. A recurring model of his father, he became a ceramist. Claude Renoir Junior, son of Pierre Renoir, belongs to the following generation: he becomes cinematographer and works in particular with his uncle Jean. The proximity of names often leads to mistakenly attributing the cinematographic career of one to the other.
After 1919
Inherit from a father, protect a work, invent your way
When Renoir died, the three sons each received several hundred works. Their heritage is not only material: it raises the question of fidelity, dissemination and artistic independence.
Disappearance of Aline
Aline's death upsets the home. Renoir nevertheless continues his work at Les Collettes, surrounded by relatives and models.
Death of the painter
Pierre, Jean and Claude inherit numerous works. The potter's oven installed in Cagnes also recalls the father's desire to see them "do something with their hands".
Bathers given to the State
The three sons offered the Louvre the large late painting which they considered to be their father's pictorial testament.
Jean goes to the cinema
After a period devoted to ceramics, he made his first feature film. He sold a large part of his inheritance to finance his films.
Two brothers in a movie
In The Night of the Crossroads, Jean directs Pierre in the role of Commissioner Maigret. The family portrait becomes an artistic collaboration.
Family gallery
Eight works to follow children in images
From the birth of Pierre to Coco's disguises, this selection allows you to see how sons grow up under their father's brush.
Maternity
The birth of the first son becomes a major theme.
Discover the work →
Aline and Pierre
An intimate variation of the series dedicated to motherhood.
Discover the work →Portrait of Peter
The future actor still captured by his father's gaze.
Discover the work →Portrait of John
An attentive presence before moving on to animated images.
Discover the work →Gabrielle and Jean
The housekeeper, the model and the child soon fascinated by cinema.
Discover the work →
Child with toys
Play, guard and painting united in the same scene.
Discover the work →Coco
Claude becomes a laboratory of light, hair and fabrics.
Discover the work →Claude as a clown
A family portrait on the border of theater.
Discover the work →Benchmarks checked
Sources for continuing family history
Musée d'Orsay · Renoir/Renoir
The exhibition documents Pierre actor, Jean filmmaker, Coco ceramist and the exchanges between painting, cinema and crafts.
View the presentation →Musée d'Orsay · Maternity
The notice specifies the birth of Pierre, the series with Aline and the probable beginning of the painting in Essoyes in 1885.
Consult the instructions →Musée d'Orsay · Les Baigneuses
The notice recalls that the three sons gave to the State in 1923 this work considered to be Renoir's pictorial testament.
Consult the instructions →French Cinematheque · Jean Renoir
The retrospective and resources retrace the transition from the painted family to Jean's film career.
View resource →Frequently asked questions
The Renoir family in eight answers
How many sons did Renoir have with Aline Charigot?
Auguste Renoir and Aline Charigot have three sons: Pierre, born in 1885, Jean, born in 1894, and Claude, nicknamed Coco, born in 1901.
Who is Pierre Renoir?
Pierre Renoir is the painter's eldest son. After being a child model, he became a theater and cinema actor and notably performed under the direction of his brother Jean.
Who is Jean Renoir?
Jean Renoir is the second son. He became one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century, author in particular of The Great Illusion and of The Rules of the Game.
Who is Claude Renoir, said Coco?
Claude is the youngest son of Auguste and Aline. Very often painted as a child, he then devoted himself to ceramics.
Was Claude Renoir cinematographer?
No, not the painter's son. The cinematographer Claude Renoir Junior is the son of Pierre and therefore the grandson of Auguste Renoir. Coco, his uncle, was a ceramist.
What role does Gabrielle Renard play in the family?
Cousin of Aline, Gabrielle becomes governess of Jean and major model of the painter. She also introduced young Jean to the first cinematographic screenings.
Why does Renoir paint his children so often?
Family proximity allows for long and repeated sessions. Renoir can follow the ages, gestures and transformations of each child while exploring light, fabrics and presence.
What happens to the works after Renoir's death?
The three sons each inherit several hundred works. They participate in their distribution and give in particular The Bathers to the State in 1923.
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