As many as 21 Renoir works come on the market all at once: they belonged to his muse

A collection that has remained out of the public eye for more than a century is preparing to emerge on the international market: as many as 21 works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. In New York, auction house Bonhams will present A Lasting Impression: The Renoir Collection of Gabrielle Renard next May, an online sale that brings together these 21 Renoir works from a unique private collection. The auction will be held May 10-20 and is a rare event for the Impressionist art market, both because of the quality of the works and their direct provenance.

The works were in fact given personally by the artist to Gabrielle Renard, a central figure in the painter’s private and creative life, and have remained in her family for more than 100 years. While some works were exhibited briefly during Renard’s lifetime, most have never been presented to the public, keeping intact a domestic and private dimension that today enhances their historical and collector’s value.

According to Frederick Millar, Senior Specialist in Bonhams’ Impressionist & Modern Art department, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “Gabrielle Renard’s image is one of Renoir’s most enduring visual signatures, found in major museum collections and art-historical literature around the world,” he commented. "A Lasting Impression offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire Renoir works with such a personal and intimate provenance. Unframed and intact, the works remain exactly as they were in Gabrielle’s home, treasures preserved from an exceptional life. Their appearance now represents an extraordinarily rare opportunity to connect with works that have been privately guarded for generations, and we at Bonhams are deeply honored to hold such an exceptional and historically rich collection."

Gabrielle Renard, a distant cousin of Renoir’s wife, Aline Charigot, entered the artist’s home in 1894, when she was only sixteen years old, as the children’s nanny. Over the course of more than two decades she became an indispensable presence, not only in the household but also in the studio, transforming herself into one of the most trusted models. Renoir portrayed her in nearly two hundred paintings, consecrating her as one of his most iconic muses.

Renard’s bond with the family also extended to the painter’s second son, Jean Renoir, a future director, who attributed to her a fundamental role in the formation of his own artistic sensibility and in his discovery of cinema. This interweaving of private life and artistic production constitutes one of the most significant elements of the collection for sale today.

Among the main lots is Fleurs from 1887, estimated between $500,000 and $700,000 (€425-595,000), an emblematic example of the floral still life, one of the genres most explored by Renoir in his research on color and pictorial matter. Alongside this, several intimate portraits of Gabrielle Renard stand out, including Portrait de Gabrielle from 1910, with an estimate between $300,000 and $500,000 (€255-425,000), and Gabrielle à la blouse blanche from 1907, valued between $220,000 and $330,000 (€187-280,000). An additional portrait of the model, dated 1913, is offered at a lower estimate between $50,000 and $70,000 (€42.5-59,500).

The sale also includes works documenting other crucial moments in the artist’s career. These include Portrait de Charles Le Cœur from 1874, estimated at between $250,000 and $350,000 (€212-297,000), which depicts one of Renoir’s earliest and most influential supporters during a decisive period in the establishment of Impressionism. The painting testifies to the key role of patrons in the early phase of the painter’s career.

Rounding out the collection are landscapes and studies that date from the early years of the Impressionist movement, such as Paysage nuageux from 1885, estimated at between $180,000 and $250,000 (€150-212,000), as well as fragmentary works that allow us to observe the artist’s creative process, including Étude de roses, de têtes et de nus, made around 1905 and estimated at between $100,000 and $150,000 (€85-127,000).

The sale stands out not only for the quality of the works but also for their exceptional provenance. The fact that these works were donated directly by the artist and kept within the same family for more than a century gives them a character of authenticity and continuity that is rare in the international marketplace. The absence of subsequent interventions and preservation in their original state help to strengthen the interest of collectors and scholars.

The emergence of the collection thus represents a significant moment for the market and for art history, offering the opportunity to take a close look at a nucleus of works that has so far remained in a private dimension. In this sense, the Bonhams auction not only offers a selection of high-level works, but also restores an intimate fragment of Renoir’s life and production, inextricably linked to the figure of Gabrielle Renard.

As many as 21 Renoir works come on the market all at once: they belonged to his muse

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