On 5 September 1883, the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir wrote a letter from the island of Guernsey, expressing admiration for its “superb rocks … as well as rump steak and ale at reasonable prices”.
Renoir spent five weeks on Guernsey, captivated by its scenery and quality of light. He painted 15 landscapes, which are among his most celebrated works.
Next month, 140 years after the artist’s visit, 11 Renoirs will be shown in the place that inspired their creation. A 10-week exhibition, Renoir in Guernsey, 1883, will open at the island’s museum and art gallery on 30 September.
The paintings have been loaned from the National Gallery, the Cincinnati Art Museum and other institutions, and from private collections where they have been held for decades.
The exhibition will include Rochers de Guernesey avec personnages (plage à Guernesey), which shows young children playing among rocks. The painting – considered one of the best from Renoir’s time on the island – was bought at auction in 2020 by the charity Art for Guernsey, with help from benefactors, for £443,250.
David Ummels, founder of Art for Guernsey and curator of the exhibition, said: “To reunite these masterpieces, painted on Guernsey and gathered here from across the globe, is truly monumental.”
Renoir was fascinated with the way light interacted with the natural environment and locals who bathed in the clear waters around the island.
The bay and beach of Moulin Huet, on the island’s rocky southern coast, provided inspiration. Since 2019, the area has been the home of the Renoir Walk, a self-guided exhibition with frames showing the surprisingly unchanged landscape scenes painted by the artist.
Ummels said: “When Renoir came here, it was at the end of a dry period when he was questioning his creativity. In Guernsey, instead of Victorian puritanism, he was surprised to find people swimming, undressing behind rocks, and behaving in a very liberal manner.
“As well as the 15 he painted or started here in Guernsey, there were 35 or 40 other works that were influenced by his visit.”
One painting missing from the exhibition is Marine, Guernsey. Earlier this year, a French court ordered the Musée D’Orsay in Paris to return the painting along with three others to the heirs of Ambroise Vollard, an influential French art dealer.
The paintings – two by Renoir, one by Gauguin and one by Cézanne – had been stolen during the second world war and sold to the Nazis.
Renoir in Guernsey, 1883 is open at the Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery from 30 September to 15 December
