News
Renoir masterpiece, L’allée au bois, acquired by National Museums NI
This is a highly important acquisition for the Ulster Museum as it is the first Impressionist painting to enter a public collection in Northern Ireland.
L’allée au bois (The Woodland Path), 1874-1880
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), BELUM.U2023.4
Photograph © Christie’s
In L’allée au bois, Renoir’s tiny brushstrokes combine to create an immersive woodland scene, giving the viewer the sense of entering a forest glade where light breezes gently rustle leaves and grasses in the heat and dappled shade of a summer afternoon. It is the first French Impressionist painting to enter a public collection in Northern Ireland and is a significant acquisition for the Ulster Museum. It will help give our audiences a deeper understanding of the work of the ‘Irish Impressionists’ such as Roderic O’Connor, John Lavery and Paul Henry.