Renoir : un festival de prêts pour une double exposition
The Musée d'Orsay in Paris has launched a major two-part exhibition dedicated to Auguste Renoir, titled "Renoir dessinateur" (Renoir as a Draughtsman) and "Renoir et l'amour" (Renoir and Love). The initiative began with a study for Renoir's controversial painting *Les Grandes Baigneuses* and has grown into an international loan effort, featuring over 150 rarely seen drawings, watercolors, pastels, and paintings from major museums and private collections worldwide, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the MET, and the Barnes Foundation.
This dual exhibition represents a significant scholarly reassessment of Renoir, shifting focus from his famous Impressionist paintings to his understudied work on paper. It marks the largest gathering of Renoir masterpieces in France in four decades and offers a fresh critical perspective on his artistic evolution, particularly his later turn toward classical line and form. The international collaboration, enabled by new lending policies from institutions like the Barnes Foundation, creates a unique opportunity for the public and scholars to rediscover the artist's full range.