Art History News

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Renoir and Love

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

17 March – 19 July 2026

National Gallery, London

3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

20 February – 13 June 2027

In autumn 2026 the National Gallery stages a major exhibition of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919).

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

The first exhibition devoted to the artist at the National Gallery since 2007, 'Renoir and Love' 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.

Organised in partnership with the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 'Renoir and Love' 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.

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

Exhibition co-curator Chiara Di Stefano says: ‘Eschewing anecdote, drama or sentimentality, Renoir sketches a joyful and light-hearted portrait of modern romance in 19th-century Paris, where the celebration of youth, beauty and sensual pleasure takes centre stage.’

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 'Dance in the Country', 1883, Musée d'Orsay, Paris (RF 1979 64) © photo Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt

Exhibition co-curator Christopher Riopelle says: ‘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.’

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'.

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). Treating a scene of everyday life with the solemnity of large-scale painting (a format traditionally reserved for mythological and religious themes), Renoir makes a powerful statement about modern art and its new subjects.

The second room focuses on Renoir’s gallant scenes of the 1870s. Considering himself as the heir of French 18th-century tradition, in the vein of Fragonard, Watteau and Boucher, Renoir updates the Rococo iconography of the 'fêtes galantes' (courtship parties). 'The Promenade', 1870 (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles) and the 'Dance at the Moulin de la Galette', 1876 (Musée d’Orsay, Paris) are among the greatest examples of this genre.

Highlights of the third section, focusing on street and café scenes include 'La Place Clichy', 1880 (The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) and 'Leaving the Conservatory', 1876–77 (The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia).

Room Four is dedicated to depictions of life in the outskirts of Paris and features 'Oarsmen at Chatou', 1879 (National Gallery of Art, Washington), 'Dance in the country', 1883 (Musée d’Orsay, Paris); 'Dance at Bougival', 1883 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), 'The Luncheon', 1875 (The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia) and 'Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise (The Rowers’ Lunch)', 1875 (Art Institute of Chicago).

Room Five is devoted to scenes of family life. There, visitors are able to see 'Sketches of Heads (The Berard Children)', 1881 (Clark Art Institute, Williamstown) and 'Children’s Afternoon at Wargemont', 1884 (Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). On display in this room is also an intimate painting of which Renoir was particularly fond, 'Motherhood', 1885 (Musée d’Orsay, Paris), capturing his future wife Aline Charigot nursing their first son Pierre.

The sixth room looks at Renoir’s depictions of intellectual intimacy and physical proximity. This section includes 'The Conversation', 1878 (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) and 'At Renoir’s Home, rue St-Georges', 1876 (Norton Simon Museum, Norton Simon Art Foundation, Pasadena). A small focus on Renoir’s theatre box scenes, featuring 'A Box at the Theatre (At the Concert)', 1880 (Clark Art Institute, Williamstown) will also be presented.

From 1883 the artist moved away from Impressionist style with its fascination with the ephemeral play of light to more solid, sculptural compositions. At the same time, his favourite motifs shifted from scenes of modern Parisian life to classical, timeless themes. A highlight of the final room of the exhibition is 'The Great Bathers', 1884–7 (Philadelphia Museum of Art) which marks the end of Renoir’s Impressionist season and the beginning of a new phase in his career.

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 is shown at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris (17 March – 19 July 2026); the National Gallery, London (3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027); and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (20 February – 13 June 2027.)

The curators are:

Paris
Paul Perrin, Chief Curator and Director of Conservation and Collections at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; with the participation of Lucie Lachenal-Taballet, Archival Research Assistant at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

London
Christopher Riopelle, former Curator of Post-1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, London, and Chiara Di Stefano, Associate Curator of Post-1800 Paintings at the National Gallery, London.

Boston

Katie Hanson, William and Ann Elfers Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; with the participation of Julia Welch, Arthur K. Solomon Assistant Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The Conversation, 1878

oil on canvas

45 × 38 cm

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, 1876

Oil on canvas, 131.5 cm x 176.5 cm.

Musée d'Orsay, Paris (RF 2739)

Gustave Caillebotte Bequest, 1896

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The Promenade, 1870

Oil on canvas

81.3 × 64.8 cm

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California

Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program

Van Eyck: The Portraits

National Gallery, London

21 November 2026 – 11 April 2027

The first ever exhibition of the portraits of the Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck (active 1422–1441), will open at the National Gallery in winter 2026.

Bringing together for the first time, from across Europe, all nine of the artist’s painted portraits, Van Eyck: The Portraits (21 November 2026 – 11 April 2027) will show half of the twenty or so surviving autograph pictures by one of the supreme figures of the Northern Renaissance.

This is an artist who not only changed the genre of portraiture - but also redefined who got to be portrayed. Capturing a moment when access to art widened, the sitters van Eyck depicted were no longer only kings, queens, or aristocrats but affluent merchants, successful craftsmen and the artist’s relatives.

Exceptional reunions will see the Gallery’s own popular Arnolfini Portrait (1434), the most visited painting page on its website, displayed for the first time ever with a panel showing the same sitter, 'Portrait of a Man (Giovanni? Arnolfini)' (c.1440, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).

Van Eyck’s newly conserved Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) (1433, the National Gallery) will be shown next to the portrait of his enterprising wife Margaret (1439, Groeningemuseum, Bruges), the first known portrait of a woman who was not a member of the aristocracy. For the first time in its history, Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum will allow both its paintings by van Eyck to go on loan at the same time.

Foregrounding new research on the artist’s technique, original frames and cryptic inscriptions, and addressing lingering controversies over his sitters’ identities, the exhibition’s catalogue will be the first monograph ever published on the subject of van Eyck’s portraits – surprising given the vast literature on the artist.

Emma Capron, Curator of Early Netherlandish and German Paintings at the National Gallery, says: ‘Some stories do not have a beginning. Portraiture is one of them. It bursts onto the scene fully formed in the 1430s under the brush of Jan van Eyck. None of the stylised likenesses that preceded his work would pass as a portrait today: you would not recognise their sitters if you walked by them on the street.'

'This changes with van Eyck. Pushing the possibilities of oil painting to convey a convincing illusion of reality, suddenly we are faced with individuals pulsating with life, every single detail of their appearance captured, sitters who look back at us and who speak to us through elaborate and often enigmatic inscriptions. These portraits’ ability to baffle by their precision and liveliness is intact today. Their impact belies their intimate scale. We are really proud and grateful to our lenders to be able to show van Eyck’s pioneering contribution to the rise of portraiture in this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition.’

National Gallery Director Gabriele Finaldi says: 'Van Eyck is one of the pillars of the National Gallery's collection and a foundational figure in the European history of art. The portraits reflect a remarkable sensitivity to his sitters and an astounding technical virtuosity in their execution.'

Jan van Eyck
Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon, about 1430
Oil on panel, 22.5 × 16.6 cm
Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania
© Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania

Jan van Eyck
Baudoin de Lannoy, about 1428-1441
oil on panel, 26.6 × 19.5 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Photo © Scala, Florence

Jan van Eyck
Portrait of a Man (from the Arnolfini family?), about 1440
Oil on panel, 30 × 21.6 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Photo © Scala, Florence

Jan van Eyck

Portrait of a Man ('Léal Souvenir')

1432

oil on wood

33.3 × 18.9 cm

Jan van Eyck

Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?)

1433

oil on wood

26 × 19 cm

Jan van Eyck

Portrait of Giovanni(?) Arnolfini and his Wife

Short title

The Arnolfini Portrait

1434

Jan van Eyck
Margaret, the Artist's Wife, 1439
Oil on oak, 32.6 × 25.8 cm
Municipal Museums Bruges, Groeningemuseum
© Municipal Museums Bruges, Groeningemuseum. Photo: The National Gallery, London

In Caravaggio’s Light: Baroque Masterpieces from the Fondazione Roberto Longhi

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL

October 25, 2025–March 22, 2026

Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC

April 25– October 25, 2026

In Caravaggio’s Light brings revolutionary artist’s Boy Bitten by a Lizard to Florida alongside nearly 40 Baroque masterpieces from Florence’s legendary Fondazione Roberto Longhi, many never before seen in America

Jusepe Ribera, Saint Bartholomew (San Bartolomeo), c. 1612, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi, Florence, Italy

Featuring some 40 masterpieces from one of the world’s most revered private collections of 17th-century painting, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity for American audiences to experience the revolutionary genius of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and the international artists he inspired. At the exhibition’s heart is

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Boy Bitten by a Lizard (Ragazzo morso da un ramarro), c. 1597, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi, Florence, Italy.

Caravaggio’s electrifying masterpiece, Boy Bitten by a Lizard (c. 1597), a cornerstone of the Fondazione Roberto Longhi collection.

The painting captures a fleeting moment of shock and pain, blending a lush still life with piercing psychological insight. Its intense realism, dramatic light (chiaroscuro), and theatrical power shattered artistic conventions. Remarkably, this will be the first time in more than a decade that the Longhi version of the iconic painting will be on view in the United States.

Beyond Caravaggio, the exhibition charts his seismic impact on European art. Visitors will explore stunning works by his closest followers—the Caravaggisti—who adopted his bold techniques to create their own powerful art:

● Valentin de Boulogne’s The Denial of Saint Peter (c. 1615–17): An emotionally charged, large-scale masterpiece that showcases the artist’s sophisticated use of shadow and narrative tension.

Valentin de Boulogne, known as Le Valentin, Denial of St. Peter (detail), c. 1620, Oil on canvas, Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi, Florence, Italy

● Jusepe de Ribera’s series of Apostles (c. 1612): Works painted with haunting realism and dramatic light that convey deep spiritual intensity, underscoring Ribera’s pivotal role in spreading tenebrism throughout Spain and Naples.

● Carlo Saraceni’s Judith with the Head of Holofernes (c. 1618): A dramatic and gripping tableau that exemplifies the artist’s masterful blend of Venetian colorism and Caravaggesque lighting.

● Matthias Stomer’s The Annunciation of Samson's Birth (c. 1630–32)

Matthias Stom, Netherlandish, active Netherlands and Italy, c. 1600—1649 , Annunciation of Samson's Birth, c. 1630-1632, Oil on canvas, Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi, Florence, Italy

and The Healing of Tobit c. 1640–1649):

Paintings whose cinematic scale and radiant compositions underscore the Dutch artist’s place among the greatest interpreters of sacred drama in Caravaggio’s wake.

All works in the exhibition come from the collection of Roberto Longhi (1890–1970), the legendary Italian art historian and connoisseur. His pioneering scholarship in the 20th century restored Caravaggio to his rightful place in the art historical canon. Longhi’s discerning eye not only rediscovered lost masterpieces but also assembled one of the most significant and personal collections of Baroque painting ever formed. Much of this collection has never before traveled to the United States.

“Caravaggio changed painting forever, and his influence echoes through the centuries”, said Dr. Stanton Thomas, William and Hazel Hough Chief Curator. “This exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity to experience that revolution firsthand, from a masterwork by Caravaggio himself to the daring interpretations of those he inspired. To host the Longhi collection here at the MFA is a profound privilege for our museum and our community.”

To complement In Caravaggio’s Light, the Museum will concurrently present Baroque Continuum: Caravaggio and the Caravaggisti Over Time. This focused exhibition traces the enduring reach of Caravaggio’s innovations across four centuries, from the Baroque period through to the present day.

Featuring works in painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture, Baroque Continuum reveals how artists across Europe and the Americas have drawn on Caravaggio’s dramatic realism, theatrical staging, and emotional intensity to explore psychological states and human experience in ever-evolving ways. Artists featured in Baroque Continuum include Thomas Anshutz, Gertrude Käsebier, Edward Steichen, Dianora Nicolini, Reza Aramesh, and others.

The exhibition design across both shows will immerse visitors in the world of Baroque. The galleries will be transformed with sumptuous damask wall coverings and theatrical lighting to evoke the dramatic, opulent environment for which these paintings were created.

Gioacchino Assereto, Samson and Delilah (detail), c. 1630, Oil on canvas, Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi, Florence, Italy

Jusepe de Ribera, St. Thomas (detail), c. 1612, Oil on canvas, Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell’Arte Roberto Longhi, Florence, Italy

Friday, March 6, 2026

KIRCHNER. PICASSO

KIRCHNER MUSEUM DAVOS

15 FEBRUARY – 3 MAY 2026

This has never been seen anywhere in the world before: from 15 February to 3 May 2026, the Kirchner Museum Davos will present the first comprehensive juxtaposition of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Pablo Picasso.

Around 100 paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints from major international museums and private collections open a new perspective on two of the most influential artists of modernism.

The starting point of the exhibition is a remarkable wish expressed by Kirchner in 1933: he dreamed of seeing his works exhibited alongside those of Pablo Picasso. Building on this idea, the exhibition explores the extra- ordinary creative power of two artists of almost the same age, who never met yet responded to the challenges of their time with radically different artistic paths – and nevertheless come surprisingly close to one another repeatedly in their works.

At the same time, “Kirchner. Picasso” is the first major Picasso exhibition in Eastern Switzerland and an inter- national project of outstanding significance.

INTRODUCTION

SENSATIONAL JUXTAPOSITION

The exhibition takes as its starting point a documented wish expressed by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in 1933: “... that I expect an international exhibition where Picasso and I will hang side by side.” 1 Almost a hundred years later, the exhibition takes up this idea and makes it a reality for the first time.

At its centre is the dialogue between two independent artistic positions that emerged at the same time yet pursued fundamentally different artistic paths, shaping art history like few others.
Over a period of almost four decades, both artists responded to the same historical and social upheavals of modernity – but with fundamentally different aesthetic strategies. The exhibition follows this simultaneity of proximity and difference, revealing how two of the most important artists of the 20th century developed their own answers to a radically changing world.

TWO PATHS INTO MODERNITY

Kirchner and Picasso – born just one year apart – belong to the same generation, yet their artistic biographies unfolded under very different conditions.

Picasso became part of the Parisian avant-garde at an early stage and soon shaped the formal renewal of 20th-century art with Cubism. His works were received with exceptional intensity in Germany and Switzerland even before the First World War. Kirchner, by contrast, developed his art within the artists’ group Brücke, which deliberately turned away from academic traditions in search of new forms of expression for immediacy, authenticity and spontaneity. After moving to Berlin in 1911, the metro- polis itself became his central artistic theme.

The First World War marked a profound rupture. Following his physical and psycholo- gical breakdown, Kirchner moved to Davos, where he lived and worked until his death. In his late work he increasingly experimented with abstraction without abandoning figuration – with the declared aim of integrating German-language art into an inter- national modern context.

The exhibition shows how both artists responded to key themes of modernity – urbanisation, acceleration, corporeality and social upheaval.

1 ErnstLudwigKirchnerinalettertoFrédéricBauer,28January1933,in:
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The Complete Correspondence, ed. by Hans Delfs, 2010, no. 2784

QUOTES

“Kirchner and Picasso never met in person – yet their works shaped modernism like hardly any other two artists. The exhibition shows their contrasts as well as surprising proximity, and Kirchner’s conscious engagement with Picasso’s work.”

Curator Katharina Beisiegel, Director, Kirchner Museum Davos

“Any child can see that Picasso creates quite differently, and from a completely different attitude.”

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Letter to Kurt Hentzen, 27 January 1933

“... that I expect an international exhibition where Picasso and I will hang side by side.”

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in a letter to Frédéric Bauer, 28 January 1933, in:
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The Complete Correspondence, ed. by Hans Delfs, 2010, no. 2784

“The most peculiar and the best is certainly Picasso.”

Ernst Ludwig Kirchners Davoser Tagebuch. Edited by Lothar Grisebach. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 1997, p. 92.

FOUR DECADES – FOUR CHAPTERS

POSTHUMOUS: A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER BETWEEN TWO OPPOSING MASTERS

“Kirchner. Picasso” is divided into four major thematic sections, each covering a decade between 1900 and 1940 and illuminating the historical and artistic context of the works on view. The presentation follows a chronological-thematic sequence and relies on targeted juxtapositions of works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Pablo Picasso. With Kirchner’s death in 1938, the temporal framework of the exhibition comes to an end.

FIN DE SIÈCLE

The opening section is devoted to the search for new visual languages around 1900. On display is a selection of early works by Pablo Picasso and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner that document their departure from academic traditions and their engagement with contemporary currents and milieus such as the circus and variety theatre.

Among the works shown is Pablo Picasso’s Jeanne (1901), Musée national Picasso– Paris. This early work, still shaped by Impressionism, points to his turn towards a psychological intensification of pictorial motifs. With

Barcelona at Night (Barcelone la nuit) (1903), Collection Emil Bührle, Zurich, Picasso’s developing handling of space, light and composition can be traced in exemplary fashion.

Juxtaposed to these works are important works from Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s early period up to the Brücke artists’ group, such as

Two Dancers (Zwei Tänzerinnen) (1910/11), Franz Marc Museum, Kochel am See. Through selected works, the gallery makes visible both shared starting points and the first differences in the artistic development of the two artists.

METROPOLIS FEVER

In the second gallery, the metropolis as a central experiential space of modernity takes centre stage. Paris and Berlin appear as sites of artistic concentration, acceleration, sensory overload and social tension.

At the same time, the gallery addresses both artists’ engagement with non-European art, as well as the importance of sculpture and still life for their artistic development. Among the works shown is

Pablo Picasso’s Woman in Green (Femme en vert) (1909), Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (Press no. 2), one of the key works of Cubism.

FOUR DECADES – FOUR CHAPTERS

Opposed to it stands Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s iconic Two Women on the Street (Zwei Damen auf der Strasse) (1914), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, K20, Düsseldorf ). As a counterpoint to metropolitan experience, the retreat into nature comes into view, for example in

Kirchner’s Two Bathers (Fehmarn) (Zwei Badende) (1912), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin

THE ROARING TWENTIES

The third gallery addresses the phase of reorientation after the First World War.

A selection of works from the 1920s is presented, in which Pablo Picasso moves between different stylistic approaches and combines classical elements with a more liberated formal language. This is illustrated, among other works, by

Mother and Child (Maternité) (1921), Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich, as well as

Head of a Woman (1932), Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main.

After moving to Davos, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner developed his so-called New Style. Works such as

Totentanz (Danse Macabre) (1926–28), Galerie Henze & Ketterer, Wichtrach/Bern, show a clearer formal language, rhythmic linework and a reduced yet intense use of colour.

THREATENED MODERNITY

The final gallery is devoted to the political and cultural developments of the 1930s. The defamation of modern art under National Socialism and the campaign against so-called “degenerate art” form the historical backdrop.

Pablo Picasso responded during this period, among other things, with portraits of his partner Dora Maar, such as

Woman with a Hat (Frau mit Hut) (1938), Museum Berggruen – Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s late work is represented, among others, by

Colour Dance II (Farbentanz II) (1932–34), Sammlung Ulmberg.

References to the reception of Picasso can also be traced in

Nude Reclining Woman (Nackte liegende Frau) (1931), Kirchner Museum Davos ) , a work from a series of figurative depictions from the early 1930s, connected to the Picasso retrospective of 1932 in Zurich.

KIRCHNER AND PICASSO – COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND YET SIMILAR

The exhibition does not aim to simplify stylistic parallels or claim direct influences. Instead, it asks questions about artistic attitude, and about different strategies in dealing with tradition, rupture and renewal.

Kirchner openly admired Picasso and described him as “the most peculiar and best” of his time. At the same time, his own work remained shaped by an existential urgency that differs clearly from Picasso’s often analytical approach. How Picasso perceived Kirchner is unfortunately not documented.

The many outstanding loans and the staging within historical context open a new view of two of the most important artists in art history and make “Kirchner. Picasso” a once-in-a-lifetime experience.