Renoir and Love: the retrospective exhibition, a landmark event at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris

When love becomes light, Renoir turns it into art. With the exhibition "Renoir et l'amour" (March 17 - July 19, 2026), the Musée d'Orsay brings together his major masterpieces for a retrospective as modern as it is tender, in collaboration with the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Some brushstrokes are like love at first sight. With Renoir and Love, the Musée d'Orsay celebrates the master of tenderness and color, in collaboration with the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. From March 17 to July 19, 2026, therestrospective exhibition brings together some of Renoir's greatest masterpieces in Paris for the first time since 1985, and promises to give his canvases all their light and modernity.

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A major figure of Impressionism, Renoir deserves to be recognized alongside Manet, Degas, Monet, and Caillebotte as one of the leading painters of modern life in the 19th century. Between the mid-1860s and the 1880s, he pioneered a style that was fluid, light-filled, bursting with color and luminosity, where relations between men and women played a central role. For Renoir, love was not lived apart from the world; it unfolded on the boulevards, in cabarets, theaters, gardens, and restaurants—these modern venues where social classes intertwined and conventions began to waver.

Inspired by the elegant fête galantes of Watteau, Boucher, and Fragonard, Renoir breathes new life into scenes of romantic encounters, capturing with his characteristic delicacy the subtle play of desire, gaze, and connection. But his brush extends beyond mere seduction: his couples are woven into a broader fabric of emotional relationships, encompassing friendships, family bonds, and children. For Renoir, love transforms into a vital force—a unifying principle that runs throughout his entire body of work.

During these pivotal years, he ventures into large-scale works that have become iconic, from Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette to Luncheon of the Boating Party, and including Dance in the Country. The exhibition invites viewers to see these masterpieces from a new perspective. Behind the scenes of celebration, light, and gentle scenes, a complex social world is also subtly hinted at. Coming from working-class backgrounds, Renoir chooses not to portray the darker side of society. Unlike the naturalists who focus on poverty, alcoholism, prostitution, violence against women, or the tragic fate of unwed mothers, Renoir adopts a more tranquil approach—yet he doesn’t completely ignore these realities.

Our take:

This retrospective gains extra resonance when paired with Renoir Dessinateur, running concurrently at the Musée d’Orsay. Where Renoir et l’amour showcases the finished canvases, the other show sheds light on the artist’s preparatory work: sketches, studies, explorations, composition. In fact, it may be wise to start with Renoir Dessinateur, where you’ll likely spend more time studying the sketches before capping the visit with the grand masterworks. Both exhibitions are accessible with the museum admission.

On the other hand, the set design raises questions: the walls—bright, bold blues, yellows and other saturated hues—seem to compete with the artworks. At times, the paintings feel almost submerged in this chromatic environment, to the point that the eye lands more on the picture rails than on the paintings themselves. Aesthetic in ambition but, in our view, lacking in subtlety, and it doesn’t always do Renoir’s paintings justice.

This exceptional retrospective offers a new reading of paintings we thought we knew by heart, revealing Renoir's timeless power of light, joy and desire.

This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please let us know.