Renoir's couples and the Impressionists in love: nine paintings

A dance in the city, a theatre box, a letter read together in the garden. How Renoir, Sargent, Boldini and Zorn painted modern love.

A man in black evening dress dancing with a woman in a long white satin gown, her back to us, among green palms; painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The Impressionists painted love as they saw it around them: not in legends but in parks, dance halls and theatres, among people they knew. Renoir above all made couples his subject, painting his friends and models walking, dancing and reading together in the dappled light. Here are six Renoirs from the Love Stories collection, and three of his contemporaries who painted modern love with the same quick, light brush.

1. Dance in the City

A man in black evening dress dancing with a woman in a long white satin gown, her back to us, among green palms; painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir — Dance in the City, 1883. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Complete composition.

In 1883 Renoir painted a pair of dancing couples, one in the country and one in the city. This is the city: a tall, narrow canvas in which a man in evening dress holds a woman in a white satin gown, her face turned towards his shoulder, among potted palms. The model was Suzanne Valadon, later a celebrated painter herself.

Tall and glamorous, white satin against black: a perfect picture for a narrow wall.

Buy as is

2. La Promenade

A young woman in a white dress being led by the hand by a young man along a sunlit woodland path; painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir — La Promenade, 1870. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Complete composition.

Renoir's La Promenade, of 1870, shows a young man in a straw hat helping a young woman in a white dress along a woodland path, her skirt catching the light among the leaves. It is a picture of a simple afternoon, and of the first days of Impressionism.

White, green and dappled sun: fresh and very easy to live with.

Buy as is

3. Confidences

A young man in a straw boater and a young woman in a pale blue dress and a flowered hat sitting in the grass reading a letter together, a small white dog at her feet; painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir — Confidences, c. 1874. Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Complete composition.

A young man in a straw boater and a young woman in a pale blue dress with a flowered hat sit in the grass, reading a letter together, heads close. A little white dog sits at her feet. Renoir called it Confidences.

Soft blues and greens: the sweetest Renoir in the collection.

Buy as is

4. La Loge

A young woman in a black and white striped gown with roses at her breast seated in a theatre box, a man behind her raising opera glasses; painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir — La Loge, 1874. Courtauld Gallery, London. Complete composition.

In a theatre box, a young woman in a black and white striped gown with roses at her breast looks out at the audience, while her companion behind her raises his opera glasses to look somewhere else entirely. Renoir showed La Loge at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874; his brother Edmond posed as the man.

Black, white and rose: one of the most elegant paintings of the century.

Buy as is

5. The Lovers

A woman in a pale blue-grey dress and a man in black leaning close to her, seated in a shady garden painted in loose blue and green strokes; painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir — The Lovers, 1875. National Gallery Prague. Complete composition.

Renoir's Lovers sit in the deep shade of a garden, the woman in a pale blue-grey dress, the man in black leaning close to her ear. The leaves around them are painted in loose strokes of blue, green and silver, so that the couple almost dissolve into the summer.

Misty and poetic: a picture that glows in a soft-lit room.

Buy as is

6. Monsieur and Madame Bernheim de Villers

A man with a dark moustache sitting just behind his wife, who wears a feathered hat, pearls and a blue patterned gown, in a red interior; painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir — Monsieur and Madame Bernheim de Villers, 1910. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Complete composition.

Forty years later, Renoir painted the art dealer Gaston Bernheim de Villers and his wife Suzanne together in an armchair, in the warm reds and blues of his late style. It is a portrait of a real marriage, comfortable and close.

Warm and glowing: late Renoir at his most generous.

Buy as is

7. An Out-of-Doors Study (Paul Helleu and his Wife)

A man in a straw hat sketching in the long grass beside a red canoe while a woman in a white dress and straw hat lies beside him; painted by John Singer Sargent.

John Singer Sargent — An Out-of-Doors Study (Paul Helleu and his Wife), 1889. Brooklyn Museum. Complete composition.

Renoir's younger contemporary John Singer Sargent painted the artist Paul Helleu sketching in the grass by a red canoe, with his young wife Alice lying beside him. Sargent painted it out of doors, in the Impressionist way, in a single summer afternoon.

Sun, grass and a red canoe: a lazy summer day on the wall.

Buy as is

8. The Walk in the Bois de Boulogne

A woman in a huge black hat and long black coat walking with a man in a top hat and white gloves through the Bois de Boulogne, painted in swift strokes; painted by Giovanni Boldini.

Giovanni Boldini — The Walk in the Bois de Boulogne, 1909. Complete composition.

Giovanni Boldini, the portraitist of Paris society, paints a couple walking in the Bois de Boulogne, she in a great black hat and a sweeping black coat, he in a top hat and gloves. Boldini's brush moves so fast that the trees and the figures seem to be walking too.

Black, silver and pure energy: Belle Époque chic for a modern room.

Buy as is

9. The Embrace

A close view of a fair-haired man kissing a dark-haired woman, his hand on her waist, against green palm fronds, signed Zorn 83; painted by Anders Zorn.

Anders Zorn — The Embrace, 1882–83. Complete composition.

Anders Zorn, the Swedish painter of light and skin, painted this kiss in 1883 against green palm fronds: a fair man and a dark-haired woman cheek to lips, quickly and freely brushed.

Intimate and modern: a kiss that looks as if it was painted yesterday.

Buy as is

These are the paintings that made love look modern. Every one is printed whole from its restored scan, and each has a Fable portrait style made from it, so you can be painted in Renoir's light.

Walk through the Love Stories room · The Love Stories collection