Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenburg) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

­Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 1879 painting Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenburg) marked Renoir's return to the Impressionist fold. After withholding his works from the Impressionist exhibitions since the third exhibition of 1877, Renoir submitted 27 works to the seventh exhibition. In Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenburg), Pierre-Auguste Renoir presents a sentimental anecdote as well as a subject from modern life. The girls have been identified as Francesca and Angelina Wartenberg, who juggled and performed gymnastics in their father's circus.

Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando (Francisca and Angelina Wartenburg) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (oil on canvas, 51-3/4x39-3/8 inches) hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Continue reading to learn more about the paintings Pierre-Auguste Renoir submitted to the seventh Impressionist exhibition.

For more on Impressionist paintings, artists, and art history, see:

• Impressionism
• Vincent van Gogh
• Claude Monet