Press Releases

Renoir’s La Parisienne, also known as ‘The Blue Lady’, is being loaned to the Musee D’Orsay as part of the Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism exhibition, which opens on March 26 this year. The exhibition will then move to the National Gallery of Art in Washington from September.

Recreating the first ever show featuring Impressionist artists held in 1874, the famous Renoir painting will feature alongside work by artists including Monet and Cezanne, who collectively launched the Impressionist movement.

Director of Collections and Research, Kath Davies says:

“It is rare for the Blue Lady to leave Wales as she is one of our most popular paintings and many people visit the museum just to see her.  As this is very special exhibition which celebrates the year she was created, it seems right that La Parisienne should revisits her roots. She will be amongst old friends once more and no doubt be enjoyed by the many international visitors to Paris.  We wish her bon voyage!”     

La Parisienne has been in Amgueddfa Cymru’s Art Collection since the 1960s, when it was gifted to the nation as part of the collection from Margaret and Gwendoline Davies, two sisters who travelled widely and amassed a wide range of paintings, creating one of the most important private collections of art in Europe.

The Edward Degas work Woman at the Bath will be temporarily on show in La Parisienne’s place. 

Notes to editors

• Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales is a charity, and a family of seven national museums and one collections centre located across Wales. But we’re more than our buildings. Our sites are vital community spaces that reach far beyond their location on a map. Our aim is to inspire everyone we reach through Wales’s story and we recognise that everyone has something to contribute through our museums, collections and the work we do.

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