Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) sometimes gets a hard time from critics – and makers of memes. Some see indifferent compositions, careless brushwork, overly saturated colours and a sentimental gaze; others, including the curators of an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay earlier this year, see him as the heir of Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard. Those joyous, light-flooded paintings of Paris’s public spaces are now coming to the National Gallery in London, which makes the case that Renoir’s depictions of the relationship between the sexes are more modern than is often assumed (3 October–31 January 2027). Highlights include the sun-dappled Dance at the Moulin de Galette, which turns 150 this year and has never been seen in the UK, and The Great Bathers (1884–87), an ambitious attempt to bring a modern handling of light, flesh and landscape to a composition and colour scheme more reminiscent of the 18th century.
Find out more from the National Gallery’s website.
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