The Stories of Lise, Aline & Gabrielle:

Renoir's favorite models

with Chris Boïcos

Three women mark with their presence the art of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the Impressionist artist who along with Edgar Degas was most enamored of the female figure: His first model and girlfriend, daughter of an innkeeper, Lise Tréhot (1848-1922) mother of his first unacknowledged children, his later model and wife, Aline Charigot (1859-1915), daughter of a country baker and mother of three boys (including the filmmaker Jean Renoir) and finally his last great model, Gabrielle Renard (1878-1959), children’s nurse and maid of the Renoir household.

We will follow the often-untold story of these three women of very modest origins through Renoir’s career and see how they contributed to the creation of some of his greatest paintings, as well as their key role in his private and family life.