The National Gallery reunited Monet's and Renoir's paintings of the same Seine afternoon, a pairing historians credit with helping spark Impressionism.
The National Gallery reunited Claude Monet’s Bathers at La Grenouillère with Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s painting of the same scene. The display ran on Trafalgar Square from Monday 27 July to Tuesday 15 September 2026.
In September 1869 Monet wrote to Frédéric Bazille that he dreamed of painting the bathing spot at La Grenouillère, and that his sketches so far were no good. Renoir, who had just spent two months there, wanted to paint it too.
The two close friends, both nearly penniless, set up their easels side by side at the Seine resort near Bougival. Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie had recently visited it.
Working outdoors, each reduced the rippling water, the moored boats and the crowded little island to loose, rapid brushstrokes. Historians count the technique among the first true instances of Impressionism.
Monet’s canvas belongs to the National Gallery’s own collection. Renoir’s, painted from almost the same spot, hangs at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, and the two had not shared a wall in London for close to 20 years.
The pairing filled the Gallery’s Room 41. When the display closed, Renoir’s canvas travelled on to the Gallery’s Renoir and Love exhibition that October.