From Brushstrokes to Prompts: Channeling Renoir in AI Image Creation

A Touch of Renoir: AI, Light, and the Poetry of Color

It’s been a while—again! Despite my best intentions to stay more organized across both my art and design projects, things never seem to go quite as planned. But when I realized it had already been nearly a month since my last letter, I knew it was time to write, even briefly.

Today, I’d like to once again share a favorite painter of mine and explore how their distinctive visual language might inspire AI-generated images. This time, I turn to Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was one of the defining figures of French Impressionism—a painter whose works are celebrated for their luminous color, soft brushwork, and heartfelt appreciation of beauty in everyday life.

Renoir often painted women, children, social gatherings, and intimate domestic scenes. His canvases shimmer with life, light, and warmth, offering viewers not just beauty, but joy. Works such as Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, The Swing, and Girls at the Piano embody this spirit of delight.

While his early paintings reflect the signature plein-air lightness of Impressionism, Renoir later moved toward more classical compositions and forms. He remained, however, always devoted to capturing the vitality and intimacy of human experience.

From Canvas to Code: Using Renoir in AI Image Generation

One of the simplest ways to incorporate an artist’s influence into AI-generated images is by including their name in your prompt—for instance, “in the style of Renoir” or “by Renoir.” (Of course, always keep copyright considerations in mind; avoid using the names of living artists or those who passed away less than 70 years ago.)

You can also creatively apply an artist’s sensibility to fields outside their traditional medium—for example, using a painter’s name when generating fashion photography or even logo design. This cross-contextual approach not only sparks unique results, but also helps avoid overly literal duplication.

In MidJourney, the use of published style codes like --sref and --p allows for nuanced stylistic control. For today’s experiments, I selected a --p code that pairs well with Renoir’s lush, luminous aesthetic—and, as I’ve done before, I used the Niji 6 model for image generation.

Niji often leans heavily into a conventional anime style, which isn’t really to my taste. But I’ve found that pairing it with Renoir’s atmosphere softens that typical aesthetic. The results feel both romantic and painterly—do they evoke the same feeling for you?

Blending Styles, Creating Variation

All of today’s images were created with the same --p code in Niji, yet each has a slightly different emotional tone depending on the image context. That subtle variety is one of the pleasures of working with MidJourney—you never quite get the same thing twice, and that unpredictability is part of the charm.

I hope today’s letter inspires you to look more closely at Renoir, or perhaps revisit painters whose work has always moved you. And if you’re working with AI-generated imagery, I hope these techniques help spark your own creative ideas.

Let me know if there’s a specific part of this process you’d like to learn more about—I’m always happy to go deeper.

Looking Ahead: A Glimpse Beyond the Canvas

While my plans to reorganize the e-commerce side of things are still in progress, I’ve been lucky to continue receiving invitations for exhibitions and even the occasional award. I currently have a show running this June, and another one is just around the corner.

In the next newsletter, I’ll share some exhibition highlights—hopefully alongside more AI image tips that are useful for your own creative journey. Until then, I hope the early days of summer are treating you kindly.