French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 1919) was one of the leading painters of the Impressionist movement, acclaimed for his portraiture and dreamy landscapes. Impressionists were the radicals of the art world, defying the formal rules of academic painting by preferring to paint outdoors rather than within the walls of a studio. The Impressionist group, which also included founding member Berthe Morisot, often exhibited together as well as individually. In 1892 Renoir wrote to Morisot ahead of her first solo exhibition, and that letter is reproduced here against the lush backdrop of his Bed of Anemones painting.