The National Gallery’s Upcoming 'Renoir and Love' Exhibition Breaks Box Office Records

The announcement follows the opening of Members’ advance booking on 4 August and the public ticket release on 25 August for the exhibition of paintings by one of the founding figures of Impressionism, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919).

'Renoir and Love' comes to the Gallery following its run, ending this summer, at the Musée d’Orsay, in Paris, where it was one of the most visited exhibitions in the museum’s history.

With 45 works 'Renoir and Love' (3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027) is the most significant exhibition of the French Impressionist’s work in the UK for 20 years.

National Gallery Director Gabriele Finaldi commented, 'Our partnership with the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is enabling us to bring the very best of Renoir to the UK in one of the most important exhibitions of his work in decades.'

The first exhibition devoted to the artist at the National Gallery since 2007, 'Renoir and Love' features some of his most experimental, ambitious and admired canvases including the iconic 'Dance at the Moulin de la Galette' (1876, Musée d’Orsay, Paris), 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 focuses on the crucial years of the artist’s career, from the mid-1860s to the mid-1880s. More than one third of the canvasses he painted in these two pivotal decades are scenes of modern love and social interactions. Often staged in Paris’s new public spaces, these depictions are remarkable for their embrace of human sociability.

The exhibition traces the evolution of the imagery of love, desire, affection, flirtation, friendship and family bonds in Renoir’s art.

Exhibition co-curator Chiara Di Stefano says: ‘Eschewing anecdote, drama or sentimentality, Renoir sketches a joyful and light-hearted portrait of modern romance in 19th century Paris, where the celebration of youth, beauty and sensual pleasure takes centre stage.

Exhibition co-curator Christopher Riopelle 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 street corners 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 from intimate 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, The National Gallery) show how Renoir often develops the theme on a large scale. His Dance compositions remain universally loved symbols of the French fin-de-siècle.

From 1883 the artist moved away from Impressionist style with its fascination with the ephemeral play of light to more solid, sculptural compositions. At the same time, his favourite motifs shifted from scenes of modern Parisian life to classical, timeless themes. A highlight of the final room of the exhibition is 'The Great Bathers', 1884–7 (Philadelphia Museum of Art) which marks the end of Renoir’s Impressionist season and the beginning of a new phase in his career.

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 is 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.)

Main Image: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 'The Conversation', 1878 © Nationalmuseum, Stockholm