Pierre Auguste Renoir Pierre Auguste Renoir was born on February 25, 1841, in Limoges, France. In 1845, his father, a tailor by trade, moved his family to Paris in hopes of finding his fortunes in the capital. They moved into a small apartment building which has been part of a sixteenth century housing complex for the Palace Guard. He developed, throughout his childhood, an intense love of the city and its people (www.augusterenoir.com). Renoir was not an exceptional student. Perhaps this was due to his generally shy and quiet personality. He had a terrible fear of drawing any attention to himself and retained this dislike throughout his career.