National Gallery announces major Renoir exhibition for 2026: Renoir and Love

3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027

The National Gallery

In autumn 2026 the National Gallery will stage a major exhibition of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919.)

With over 50 works 'Renoir and Love' (3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027) will be the most significant exhibition of the French impressionist’s work in the UK for 20 years.

The first exhibition devoted to the artist at the National Gallery since 2007 'Renoir and Love' will include his most experimental, ambitious and admired canvases including the iconic 'Bal au Moulin de la Galette' (1876, the Musée d’Orsay, Paris), which will be exhibited in the UK for the first time.

Organised in partnership with the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 'Renoir and Love' will focus on the crucial years of the artist’s career, from the mid-1860s to the mid-1880s.

The exhibition traces the evolution of the imagery of affection, seduction, conversation, male camaraderie and the sociability of the café and theatre, as well as merry-making, flirtation, courtship and child-rearing in Renoir’s art.

Loans from private collections and museums worldwide include pictures from Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen; the Städel Museum, Frankfurt; the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Norton Simon Art Foundation, Pasadena, California; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

Exhibition co-curator Christopher Riopelle, the Neil Westreich Curator of Post-1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, says: 'More than any of his contemporaries, Renoir was committed to chronicling love and friendship and their informal manifestations as keys to modern life. Whether on Parisian streetcorners or in sun-dappled woodlands, he understood that emotion could be as fleeting, as evanescent, as blinding, as his other great and transitory subject, sunlight itself.’

Such themes are explored in tender and personal works to beguiling multi-figure compositions of urban and suburban sociability. Several full-length figure compositions, such as 'The Umbrellas' (1881, reworked 1885, National Gallery), show how Renoir develops the theme into paintings 'worthy of the museum.' His Dance compositions remain universally loved symbols of the French fin-de-siècle. In the early 1880s Renoir moved away from Impressionist style with its fascination with the play of light to more solid, sculptural compositions, but the theme of friendship and joy in nature remains.

The exhibition was initiated by the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and is organised by the Musée d’Orsay, the National Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It will be shown at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris (17 March – 19 July 2026); the National Gallery, London (3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027); and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (20 February – 13 June 2027.)

The curators are:

Paris

Paul Perrin, Chief Curator and Director of Conservation and Collections at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; with the participation of Lucie Lachenal-Tabellet, Archival Research Assistant at the Musée d’Orsay

London

Christopher Riopelle, Neil Westreich Curator of Post-1800 Paintings, National Gallery, London, and Chiara Di Stefano, Associate Curator of Post-1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, London

Boston

Katie Hanson, William and Ann Elfers Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; with the participation of Julia Welch, Arthur K. Solomon Assistant Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

National Gallery Lead Philanthropic Supporter:

Kenneth C. Griffin

More information at nationalgallery.org.uk
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