“I insist upon 'doing it alone'. Much as I enjoyed making the trip there with Renoir as a tourist, I'd find it hard to work there together. I have always worked better alone and from my own impressions… If he Renoir knew I was about to go, Renoir would doubtless want to join me and that would be equally disastrous for both of us.”

— Claude Monet

Quote in a letter to his art-dealer Durand-Ruel in Paris, 1884; as cited in: K.E. Sullivan. Monet: Discovering Art, Brockhampton press, London (2004), p. 51
Monet is painting then in Northern Italy then, on the edge of the Mediterranean
1870 - 1890

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Claude Monet 87

French impressionist painter 1840–1926

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“He [Renoir] is a subtle and brilliant draughtsman.... all these preliminary drawings [in Renoir's studio] would astonish the public who obviously imagine the 'Impressionists' work at tremendous speed. I don't believe one can go further [in making sketches as studies] than this in the study of form in a drawing. I am charmed by his 'Nude Bathers' quite as much as those by Ingres. He [Renoir] tells me that he thinks the nude is absolutely indispensable as an art form.”

Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) painter from France

note in Berthe's Journal, c. 11 Jan. 1886, after visiting Renoir in his studio; in 'Carnet Beige', Morisot Enchantment, Huisman; as cited in Berthe Morisot, the first lady of Impressionism, by Margaret Sehnan; Sutton Publishing (ISBN 0 7509 2339 3), 1996, p. 234
1881 - 1895

“Would you do us the great favour, you and Mademoiselle Geneviève, of coming to dine next Thursday? Monet will be there, Renoir also..”

Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) painter from France

short letter of Berthe to Stéphane Mallarmé, c. 1885-86; as cited in Vie de la Mallarmé, Henri Mondor, publisher Gallimard 1941, p. 501
at the Thursday-evening diners were frequently invited Berthe's relations; a. o. Monet, Degas, Renoir, Manet, Mallarmé etc..
1881 - 1895

“On working alone: "I enjoy working alone. I know myself, and I know what I want… and all this allows me to create my music before my thoughts can interrupt."”

Vangelis (1943) Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock, and orchestral music

1979

“Monet has popped up out of nowhere with a collection of magnificent canvases... With Renoir, that makes two hard-up painters I am putting up. It's quite an infirmary here.”

Frédéric Bazille (1841–1870) French painter

1866 - 1870

“It's because I'm alone.. If I could just feel it, it would be different, because I would not be alone. But if I were not alone, everybody would know it. And he could do so much for me, and then I would not be alone. Then I could be all right alone.”

William Faulkner book As I Lay Dying

Source: As I Lay Dying

“The work of Renoir, after that of Cézanne whose great influence had been manifested among artists, save us from whatever drying effect there is in pure abstraction. The rules that one might deduce in considering the work of these two masters appear to be more difficult to discover in the work of Renoir, who hides his efforts better. Whereas the continuous tension of the mind of Cézanne, his lack of self-confidence, prevent him from giving himself to us entirely even though he shows the evidence of his corrections, from which are easily (too easily) deduced rules that have a mathematical precision.”

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) French artist

critical quote on Cubism
In a short text of Matisse, 1918, written for the catalogue of 'Den Franske Utstilling', 1918, Copenhagen; as quoted in Matisse on Art, Jack Flam, University of California Press 1995 p. 272, note 2
1910 - 1920

“I want to shape the TV screen canvas
as precisely as Leonardo,
as freely as Picasso,
as colorfully as Renoir,
as profoundly as Mondrian,
as violently as Pollock
and as lyrically as Jasper Johns.”

Nam June Paik (1932–2006) American video art pioneer

Paik (1969) Versatile Color TV Synthesizer, Manifesto, cited in: Edith Decker-Phillips. Paik Video, Barrytown, Limited, 1998. p. 154
1960s

“I have a dream a picture of the bathing spot at the Grenouillere, for which I've made a few poor sketches, but it is a dream. Renoir, who has just spent two months here, also wants to do this painting.”

Claude Monet (1840–1926) French impressionist painter

quote in a letter to Frédéric Bazille, September 25, 1869; as cited in: Bonafoux (1986, 72), cited in Michael P. Farrell (2003) Collaborative Circles: Friendship Dynamics and Creative Work. p. 42
1850 - 1870
Context: [Chopping wood] is harder than you think, and I'll bet that you would not split much wood... All the same, I have probably not reached the end of my troubles. Here is winter at hand, a season not very pleasant for the wretched. Then comes the Salon. Alas! I still won't be in it, for I shall have done nothing. I have a dream a picture of the bathing spot at the Grenouillere, for which I've made a few poor sketches, but it is a dream. Renoir, who has just spent two months here, also wants to do this painting.

“The people who’ve done well within the [Hollywood] system are the people whose instincts, whose desires [are in natural alignement with those of the producers] — who want to make the kind of movies that producers want to produce. People who don’t succeed — people who’ve had long, bad times; like [Jean] Renoir, for example, who I think was the best director, ever — are the people who didn’t want to make the kind of pictures that producers want to make. Producers didn’t want to make a Renoir picture, even if it was a success.”

Orson Welles (1915–1985) American actor, director, writer and producer

Quoted in The Orson Welles Story.

“He [ Renoir; Maillol made his bust] was very interested, watching me do his bust. He said to me: 'Every time you touch it, it becomes more alive.”

Aristide Maillol (1861–1944) sculptor from France

Quote in Maillol's letter, 14th May 1887; as cited in Renoir – his life and work, Francois Fosca, Book Club Associates /Thames and Hudson Ltd, London 1975, p. 245-246

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Claude Monet 87

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