Renoir at the Musée d’Orsay 2026: Two Major Exhibitions
In spring 2026, the Musée d’Orsay devotes a large part of its exhibition program to Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Two major shows open on the same day and run in parallel, each covering a different side of his work.
The year 2026 marks 150 years since Renoir painted Bal du moulin de la Galette, one of the museum’s most important works and a defining image of Parisian life in the 1870s. That painting anchors the entire season.
Renoir et l’amour
The main exhibition, Renoir et l’amour, runs from March 17 to July 19, 2026. It concentrates on the period between 1865 and 1885, when Renoir was painting scenes of leisure, social life, and shared public space.
The title can sound misleading: this is not a show about idealized romance. It looks instead at how Renoir represented relationships through everyday situations.
Many of the paintings are multi-figure compositions set in cafés, gardens, dance halls, and along the Seine. Couples are rarely isolated. They are part of a wider social setting.
Love appears through body language, proximity, glances, and physical ease rather than explicit narrative. This approach places Renoir firmly in the context of modern Paris, where public and private life increasingly overlapped.
Around fifty paintings are included, with major international loans that are rarely seen together.
Les Parapluies comes from the National Gallery in London. Danse à Bougival is lent by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. La Promenade arrives from the Getty Museum, and La Grenouillère from the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.
The most exceptional loan is Le Déjeuner des canotiers, coming from The Phillips Collection in Washington.
The exhibition is co-organized with the National Gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which explains the scope and quality of the loans.
Curators focus on structure and composition as much as subject matter, showing how Renoir carefully organized crowds and movement to express social connection.
Renoir dessinateur
Running almost alongside it, from March 17 to July 5, 2026, Renoir dessinateur takes place in the Galerie Seine on the museum’s ground level.
This is the first exhibition at Orsay devoted entirely to Renoir’s works on paper and is co-organized with The Morgan Library & Museum in New York.
About one hundred works are shown, including drawings in graphite and charcoal, studies in Conté crayon, ink sketches, watercolors, pastels, and gouaches.
Some have rarely been exhibited. A small number of paintings are included to directly link preparatory work to finished canvases.
This exhibition is key for understanding Renoir beyond surface impressions. It shows a methodical side that often gets overlooked. Figures are drawn and redrawn. Poses are adjusted. Movement is tested repeatedly.
The drawings reveal how much planning went into paintings that are often described as spontaneous.
Visiting details
The Musée d’Orsay is open from 9:30 to 6:00 on most days, with late opening until 9:45 on Thursdays. It’s closed on Mondays.
Tickets follow standard Orsay pricing, with reduced rates available and free entry for under-18s and under-26 EU residents.