Tag: art

Fabulous Fantastic Fiascoes

Michelangelo.
Image Wikipedia
  1. On this day in 1831, American writer Edgar Allan Poe was court-martialled for disobedience and expelled from…
    • Annapolis naval academy
    • Marine Corps Base Quantico
    • West Point military academy
  2. Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo was born on 6 March in…
    • 1375
    • 1475
    • 1575
  3. On 6 March 1840, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, went into use featuring an image of…
    • Jonas Furrer, president of Switzerland
    • Victoria, queen of Great Britain
    • Martin Van Buren, president of the US
  4. The first female to travel in space was born on this day in 1937, she was…
    • Valentina Ponomaryova
    • Svetlana Savitskaya
    • Valentina Tereshkova 
  5. The Alamo, San Antonio fell and was captured today in 1836 following a siege which had lasted…
    • 3 days
    • 13 days
    • 31 days
  6. On 6 March 1899, acetylsalicylic acid is patented by Felix Hoffmann at the German company Bayer under the genericized trademark…
    • Aspirin
    • Ibuprofen
    • Paracetamol 
  7. This day in 1964 a boxer changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He had had changed his name from…
    • Augustus Amber
    • Balbinus Beryl
    • Cassius Clay
  8. Today in 1853, La traviata, by Giuseppe Verdi, was premiered at La Fenice opera house in Venice. The composer later described it as…
    • Fabulous
    • Fantastic
    • Fiasco
  9. The first First Lady to hold an official press conference in the White House did so on 6 March. She was…
    • Eleanor Roosevelt
    • Jackie Kennedy
    • Pat Nixon
  10. At a meeting of the Russian Chemical Society, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first periodic table on this day in …
    • 1869
    • 1895
    • 1921

Good luck! The answers will be posted later today.

First Impressions—Answer

Self-portrait, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1876)
[Image from Wikipedia]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Children at the Beach at Guernsey, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1883)
[Image from Wikipedia]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, born in Limoges, France on 25 February 1841, emerged as a key figure in the Impressionist movement. Moving to Paris early in life, Renoir’s artistic talents blossomed while apprenticed at a porcelain factory before he pursued formal studies at École des Beaux-Arts. His association with artists like Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley helped shape the Impressionist style, characterised by vibrant colours and light. Despite initial career challenges, Renoir’s work eventually garnered acclaim, with his 1876 painting, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, epitomising Parisian nightlife and becoming iconic.

Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1876)
[Image from Wikipedia]

In the mid-1880s, after a transformative trip to Italy where he studied Renaissance masters, Renoir shifted from pure Impressionism to a more classical style. He married Aline Victorine Charigot in 1890, fathering three sons, including the filmmaker Jean Renoir. Even as rheumatoid arthritis afflicted him later in life, his determination saw him continue painting with the help of assistants, developing new techniques to adapt to his condition. Renoir’s prolific career produced thousands of paintings, celebrated for their sensuality and domesticity, leaving a lasting legacy on art. His conviction that 

“the pain passes, but the beauty remains” 

captures the enduring impact of his work, preserved in collections worldwide.

Self-portrait, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1910)
[Image from Wikipedia]