Renoir et l'amour

Exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 17 March – 19 July 2026

From 1865 to 1885, during the first twenty years of his career, Renoir participated in the collective invention of a ‘New Painting’ alongside Manet, Monet, Morisot, Degas and Caillebotte. However, he stood out from his Impressionist friends through his unique sense of empathy and capacity for wonder, choosing only happy subjects and always highlighting his models – which sometimes led to his marginalisation among the great painters of modernity.

This exhibition catalogue brings together for the first time the major body of work entitled “Scenes of Modern Life” produced by Renoir during the first twenty years of his career. It also highlights Renoir's predilection for depicting young couples, while deconstructing the preconceived notion that his painting is “sentimental”: Renoir's large-format works devoted to happy couples, ‘camaraderie’ (in the words of his friend Rivière) and conviviality appear as manifestos against gender violence, class antagonisms and the growing loneliness of urban life.