Renoir became hugely popular despite great obstacles: thirty years of poverty followed by thirty years of progressive paralysis of his fingers. Despite these hardships, much of his work is optimistic, even joyful. Close friends who contributed money, contacts, and companionship enabled him to overcome these challenges to create more than 4,000 paintings. Renoir had intimate relationships with fellow artists (Caillebotte, Cezanne, Monet, and Morisot), with his dealers and with his models . Barbara Ehrlich White's lifetime of research informs this fascinating biography that challenges common misconceptions surrounding Renoir's reputation.Since 1961 White has studied more than 3,000 letters relating to Renoir and gained unique insight into his personality and character. 'Renoir' provides an unparalleled and intimate portrait of this complex artist through images of his own iconic paintings, his own words, and the words of his contemporaries.