Auguste Renoir: beauty remains

Ever since he was young, the painter Henri Matisse used to visit the great Renoir at his atelier every week. When Renoir was crippled with arthritis, Matisse began to visit him daily, taking food, paintbrushes and paint, always trying to convince the master that he worked too hard. He needed to rest a little.

One day, noting that each brush stroke made Renoir groan of pain, Matisse couldn’t stay silent: “Great master, your work is already vast and important. Why continue to torture yourself that way?”

“Very simple,” Renoir answered. “Beauty remains; pain ends up passing.”