Ball at the Moulins de la Galette

In 1876, Renoir rented a studio in Montmartre with a garden, which was located near the Moulin de la Galette , a restaurant with a dance hall in the upper part of Montmartre ^{[1] [2]} , which got its name from the mill located not far from it. In good weather, the main action took place on the street, where tables and benches were arranged in a circle. Renoir liked such a fun, laid-back atmosphere, and here he began to create the first sketches of a future painting. For the picture, he asked his friends to pose, so that some of them can be recognized among those dancing and sitting at tables ^{[1] [3]} . When writing this picture, the artist coped with the difficult task of depicting the reflection of sun glare, breaking through acacia leaves, on the faces and clothes of dancing and sitting people ^{[1] [2]} .

The painting "Ball at the Moulins de la Galette" was exhibited at the 3rd exhibition of the Impressionists in 1877 (together with the painting " Swing "), and it is considered the main work of Renoir in the mid-1870s ^[4] .

Since 1879, the painting was in the collection of the French Marchand and artist Gustave Caillebotte ( Gustave Caillebotte ). After his death in 1894, it passed into state ownership as an inheritance tax , and in 1896 was transferred to the Museum in the Luxembourg Gardens . Since 1929, the painting was in the collection of the Louvre , from where in 1986 it was transferred to the Orsay Museum , where it still remains ^[5] .

The painting “Ball at the Moulin de la Galette” took part in several exhibitions, including the “exhibition of one painting” in the State Hermitage , which took place in St. Petersburg from March 18 to July 7, 2015. In exchange, the Hermitage sent the triptych of Pierre Bonnard “Near the Mediterranean Sea” (1911) to the temporary exposition in Paris. For the exhibition at the Hermitage, “The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette” was insured for 90 million euros ^{[6] [7]} .

Renoir also painted a smaller version of this painting ( 78 × 114 cm ) with the same name. In 1990, it was sold at Sotheby's in New York for $ 78 million, which at that time made it the second most expensive painting in the history of auctions . She is still one of the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction ^[8] .

The film “Ball at the Moulins de la Galette” was dedicated to the film “Beautiful Sundays” ( French Les Beaux Dimanches d'été ) from the series “ Palettes ” (France, 1997) ^[9] .

• Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, 1876, Auguste Renoir , Google Art Project, www.googleartproject.com
• Pierre Auguste Renoir - Ball at the Moulins de la Galette , impressionism.su