Where can you see Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Paris?

At the Musée d'Orsay: Bal du moulin de la Galette, The Swing and Young Girls at the Piano. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Pierre-Auguste Renoir's most famous work in Paris?

Bal du moulin de la Galette, of 1876, at the Musée d'Orsay. A Sunday dance in the garden of a windmill on the hill of Montmartre, the crowd dappled with sun through the acacias. His friends posed for it.

When and where was Pierre-Auguste Renoir born?

On 25 February 1841, at Limoges, France. Pierre-Auguste Renoir died on 3 December 1919, at Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, aged about 78.

What is Pierre-Auguste Renoir known for?

Painted the Bal du moulin de la Galette in Montmartre in 1876. Worked beside Monet at the birth of Impressionism. Went on painting with arthritic hands until his death. Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter, of Impressionism.

Painter, 1841 to 1919

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Renoir said a picture should be a likeable, joyful and pretty thing. He painted a Sunday afternoon dance in Montmartre in 1876, and the result hangs at the Musée d'Orsay, a short metro ride from where it happened.

Bal du moulin de la Galette by Renoir: a crowd dancing and talking at tables in dappled sunlight. — Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Public domain

The Swing, by Renoir: a woman in a white dress on a swing, in dappled sunlight. — Pierre-Auguste Renoir, CC0

Young Girls at the Piano, by Renoir: two girls reading music at an upright piano. — Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Public domain

Born: 1841, Limoges, France
Died: 1919, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France
Movement: Impressionism
In Paris: 3 works in 1 museum

Where to see Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Paris

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Musée d'Orsay3 works

Bal du moulin de la Galette
1876
A Sunday dance in the garden of a windmill on the hill of Montmartre, the crowd dappled with sun through the acacias. His friends posed for it.
The Swing
1876
A young woman on a swing in a Montmartre garden, patches of sunlight on her dress and on the path. Painted the same summer as the Bal.
Young Girls at the Piano
1892
Two girls reading a score at an upright piano. It was the first Renoir bought by the French state. A second version is in the Orangerie.

The life of Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Renoir was born in Limoges in 1841 and began as a painter of porcelain. He met Monet in a Paris studio, and in the summer of 1869 the two worked side by side on the Seine and found the broken, flickering touch that became Impressionism. Renoir used it for people where Monet used it for water.

In the 1880s he turned to a firmer, more classical way of painting, and in old age, crippled by arthritis, he went on working in the south of France with the brush strapped to his hand. He died at Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1919.

What to know

Painted the Bal du moulin de la Galette in Montmartre in 1876
Worked beside Monet at the birth of Impressionism
Went on painting with arthritic hands until his death

Born: 25 February 1841, Limoges, France
Died: 3 December 1919, Cagnes-sur-Mer, France

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: common questions

Where can you see Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Paris?: At the Musée d'Orsay: Bal du moulin de la Galette, The Swing and Young Girls at the Piano. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Pierre-Auguste Renoir's most famous work in Paris?: Bal du moulin de la Galette, of 1876, at the Musée d'Orsay. A Sunday dance in the garden of a windmill on the hill of Montmartre, the crowd dappled with sun through the acacias. His friends posed for it.
When and where was Pierre-Auguste Renoir born?: On 25 February 1841, at Limoges, France. Pierre-Auguste Renoir died on 3 December 1919, at Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, aged about 78.
What is Pierre-Auguste Renoir known for?: Painted the Bal du moulin de la Galette in Montmartre in 1876. Worked beside Monet at the birth of Impressionism. Went on painting with arthritic hands until his death. Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter, of Impressionism.