Renoir's Cats

This rather intense looking person is Pierre Auguste Renoir. Renoir was a French Impressionist painter who sometimes included cats in his pictures. Apparently, he was a great fan of cats, and this affection can be seen in the following works.

    Woman with Cat

The eyes are really drawn to the cat. It reminds me of my aunt's old cat named Holly. Holly was a stray, who'd become so nervous she'd drool. It wasn't her teeth. Poor Holly. One day, she went out to play and never returned. Cats who go outside can have a sad way of disappearing.

      

Sleeping Girl with Cat

 Her stockings are very fashionable in a striped sort of way.

Julie Manet with Cat

Julie was the only daughter of the artist Berthe Morisot and Eugene Manet. Eugene was the younger brother of artist Edouard Manet. Julie died in the year 1966 at the advanced age of 87.

 

Here she is grown up.

Girl and Cat

I like the way the cat is standing on its back legs to reach the flowers. Though the Impressionist painters are favorites of mine, I never cared much for Renoir. There's something about the sameness of the people, and the sticky sweet colors, that bother me. He was a great hit with my mother though. When I was young, we had a big Renoir print hanging over the piano. The little Renoir girl would look at me with horror as I tortured the keyboard. I do like Renoir's cats though.

Sleeping Cat

Wait! That's not a cat! For the dog lovers of the world, here's a Renoir puppy. It's called, sensibly enough, Head of a Dog. 

This is the head of Renoir. It's a self-portrait looking older and much less intense.