Exhibition
Renoir and Love!
Exhibition
Renoir and Love!
Exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay
Renoir and Love!
Renoir and Love!
The Happy Modern Era (1865–1885)
March 17 to July 19, 2026
& Renoir, the Draughtsman
March 17 to July 5, 2026
Exhibitions at the Musée d’Orsay
This spring, the Musée d’Orsay will open two linked exhibitions, both focusing on the Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir.
While the section “Renoir and Love” primarily showcases paintings from Renoir’s early Impressionist period and explores themes such as love, leisure time, and the social life of the time, the section “Renoir the Draughtsman” focuses on his drawings, sketches, watercolors, and pastels. This provides insight into how his ideas and paintings came about.
Renoir, the Draughtsman The exhibition was organized by the Musée d’Orsay, the National Gallery (London), and the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) and will be on display at the National Gallery, London, this fall/winter (October 3, 2026 – January 31, 2027).
A little bonus: My former employer – the Städel Museum in Frankfurt – is also contributing a Renoir: La Fin du déjeuner, 1879 😀
We hope to be able to visit the exhibition in person – if so, this article will of course be updated with photos from the exhibition!
Renoir & Love
Tickets
Exhibition-Ticket
EUR 17.50Admission with timeslot to see the exhibtion, afterwards the permanent collection
Buy tickets
The details
at a glance
Renoir and Love!
The Happy Modern Era (1865–1885)
17 March to 19 July 2026
& Renoir, the Draughtsman
17 March to 5 July 2026
Exhibitions at the Musée d’Orsay
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Sunday, 9.30 – 18.00 h
Thursdays until 21.45 h
Prices:
EUR 16 for adults
Free entry for children under 18 and 18- to 25-year-olds with EU citizenship (photo ID required)
Complete registration with name, password, etc. is required
Our price is EUR 17.50, but it’s faster and doesn’t require an account!
Address:
Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 75007 Paris
Metro Line 12: Solférino
RER C: Musée d’Orsay
Audioguide:
EUR 6 for adults
EUR 3.50 for kids
ICOM card:
Free entry, but a free ticket must be reserved on the official website.
Who was
Auguste Renoir?
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was one of the most important French Impressionist painters. Born into a family of tailors, he initially learned the craft of porcelain painting. By the age of 15, he was already so skilled that he received large commissions in that field. However, when his factory closed, Renoir had to change his focus.
From 1861 to 1864, Renoir studied painting—fortunately for us. One of his role models was Gustave Courbet (whose work you can currently admire in an exhibition in Vienna!). Through Courbet, he met Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, and in 1864, he exhibited a painting for the first time at the Paris Salon, a springboard for every artist of that era. Although he subsequently gained acclaim and fame, his paintings didn’t sell well, and he lived in poverty.
This finally changed in 1874, when Renoir organized the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris. From then on, he received more and more commissions and had several patrons.
Auguste Renoir’s colorful and vibrant paintings, depicting scenes from guinguettes (18th- and 19th-century entertainment venues with a simple atmosphere, music, dancing, and plenty of socializing) and public balls, earned him the reputation of a “painter of happiness.” This cheerful style, however, led some modernist art critics to take him less seriously, as they believed modern art had to be melancholic or ironic. Renoir himself was aware of this skepticism. “I know perfectly well that it is difficult to accept that a painting can be great art and still remain cheerful,” Renoir said. His works reflect modernity in their own unique way, with love shaping both the relationships between people and his perception of models, the world, and painting itself.
Renoir Exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay: Auguste Renoir, “Self-Portrait”, c. 1875,
Oil on canvas, 39.1 x 31.6 cm, Williamstown, Clark Art Institute, 1955.584 Acquis par Sterling et Francine Clark avant 1955
Image courtesy Clark Art Institute. clarkart.edu
Your visit to the exhibition will be divided into two parts: the main works – that is, the finished paintings – are shown in the section Renoir and Love, while the second part presents sketches, drawings, and studies that Renoir created for these very paintings.
In this article, however, we will focus primarily on the paintings.
Some exceptional loans are expected, which will complement the works of the Musée d’Orsay beautifully. All of the pieces revolve around the theme of love and the joyful moments of Impressionism.
As the exhibition has not yet opened and we have not visited it ourselves, we have selected a few examples of works that you can expect to see there:
1. La Fin du déjeuner, 1879 – Städel Museum
From the 1860s onwards, Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted scenes along the Seine, particularly in Chatou and at the Restaurant Fournaise, featuring boats and leisure gatherings. Unlike contemporary depictions, he emphasised relaxed people, leisure, and social interaction without excess. Meals, such as in the famous La Fin du déjeuner, become a central motif expressing both social harmony and sensual enjoyment. We see that the diners have finished eating: the plates are empty and stacked, the coffee cup and wine glass are finished. A woman enjoys a final liqueur, while the man lights a cigarette to conclude the meal…
2. Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876 – Musée d’Orsay
In the 1870s, Renoir painted figures in landscapes, especially in Montmartre. His works depict couples and groups without sentimentality, emphasising freedom, equality, and harmonious relationships between the sexes. This vision of harmonious relationships served as a model for all human interactions, at a time when Paris was marked by numerous social and gender divides and violence. With light brushstrokes and vibrant colours, he celebrates the resilience, emotions, and sociability of people.
3. Danse à Bougival, 1883 – Boston, Museum of Fine Arts
In the summer and autumn of 1882, Renoir began painting life‑sized dancing couples. The theme draws on earlier works such as Bal du Moulin de la Galette and Luncheon of the Boating Party, inspired by his joy in watching his partner Aline Charigot dance. After years of depicting people strolling and chatting, he now showed them dancing, in close physical proximity. This project was unprecedented: no artist before Renoir had granted anonymous dancing couples such scale and dignity. The work represents both the peak and the conclusion of this theme in his painting career.
All three are about people having a good time. They eat, they sit together, they talk, they dance, and they seem completely happy and content.
About the exhibition
Renoir & Love
Excursus
Renoir as a Draughtsman
“[Renoir] is an outstanding draftsman; all his preparatory studies for a painting would be interesting to show to the public, who generally assume that the Impressionists worked with the greatest casualness.”
— Berthe Morisot
This section of the exhibition presents, for the first time, the drawings and works on paper by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It includes over a hundred pieces, such as sketches, studies, pastels, and watercolours, many of which served as preparatory studies for his paintings.
The display makes it clear that Renoir was not only a painter but also a talented draughtsman, experimenting with a variety of techniques. Of particular note is his use of sanguine, a reddish chalk, which allowed him to render bodies and skin with remarkable delicacy.
Both early exercises and later, expressive sheets offer an intimate insight into his creative process. Many of the works had rarely or never been publicly exhibited before. The exhibition thus highlights how closely his drawings were connected to his paintings and how they shaped his artistic development.
We’re really looking forward to this exhibition and are currently planning our visit!
Yours, Céline
Text and image rights – Collection photo: © Céline Mülich, 2026
Based on press releases and Wikipedia.
The other work images from the press kit via screenshot.
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