A major exhibition of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) opens on 3 October 2026 at the National Gallery in London. 

The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London

With 45 works, ‘Renoir and Love’ is the most significant exhibition of the French Impressionist’s work in the UK for 20 years. It 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.  

Running until 31 January 2027, 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 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.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 'Dance at the Moulin de la Galette', 1876. Musée d'Orsay, Paris (RF 2739) Gustave Caillebotte Bequest, 1896. © photo Grand Palais RMN (Musée d'Orsay) / Mathieu Rabeau.

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

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 'Dance at Bougival', 1883. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Picture Fund 37.375 Photograph: © 2026 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Loans come from private collections and museums around the world. The first room of the exhibition explores the artist’s early years and includes 'Mother Antony’s Tavern', 1866 (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm). The second room focuses on Renoir’s gallant scenes of the 1870s and includes his 'Dance at the Moulin de la Galette'.

Room three focuses on street and café scenes, including 'La Place Clichy', 1880 (The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), and room four is dedicated to depictions of life in the outskirts of Paris. Room five is devoted to scenes of family life and the sixth room looks at Renoir’s depictions of intellectual and physical proximity.

From 1883 the artist moved away from the Impressionist style to more solid, sculptural compositions and a highlight of the final room is 'The Great Bathers', 1884–7 (Philadelphia Museum of Art) which marks the end of Renoir’s Impressionist era and the beginning of a new phase in his career. 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 'The Promenade', 1870 The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California. Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program.

National Gallery Director Gabriele Finaldi said: “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.”

Exhibition co-curator Christopher Riopelle added: “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.”

If you or your group would like to enjoy a visit to ‘Renoir and Love’ at the National Gallery on a tailor-made tour to London this winter, please do contact our friendly team today. Or perhaps you would like to take a Culture Tour of England? If so, we can help!