Exhibition Tour of Renoir Drawings
Led by Rebecca Pollak, Associate Paper Conservator, Thaw Conservation Center, Morgan Library & Museum
and Sarah Lees, Research Associate, Morgan Library & Museum

This event is open to members of The Drawing Foundation. Log in to your membership account to register or sign up to become a member today.

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Exhibition Information:

While the paintings of Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) have become icons of Impressionism, his drawings, watercolors, and pastels are far less widely known. In fact, drawing remained central to his artistic practice even as his interests and ambitions changed over the course of a long career. This exhibition explores the ways in which Renoir used paper to test ideas, plan compositions, and interpret both landscape and the human figure.

Thematic sections will cover the full span of the artist’s career, ranging from academic studies he made as a student, to on-the-spot impressions of contemporary urban and rural life, to finished, formal portraits, to intimate sketches of friends and family completed late in life. In-depth case studies of favored themes and preparatory work for landmark canvases will further illuminate Renoir’s practice of drawing.

Inspired by the major gift to the Morgan of a large-scale preparatory sketch for one of Renoir’s most significant paintings, The Great Bathers, this exhibition is the first in a century to explore the artist’s works on paper in depth. Organized by the Morgan Library Museum and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Renoir Drawings brings together nearly one hundred drawings, pastels, watercolors, prints, and a small selection of paintings, enabling visitors to engage with Renoir’s creative process while offering insights into his artistic methods over five decades.

Organized by Colin B. Bailey, Katharine J. Rayner Director, and Sarah Lees, Research Associate.

Renoir Drawings is organized by the Morgan Library & Museum and the Musée d’Orsay.

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This event is organized by The Drawing Foundation in partnership with the Morgan Library & Museum as part of On Drawings 2025.

Image: Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), Portrait of a Girl (Elisabeth Maître), 1879. Pastel on Ingres paper. The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – The Batliner Collection