Taking Renoir’s La Loge (1874) as its centrepiece, this exhibition explored the Impressionists in the late 1900s. Refocusing attention on their position as agitators and anarchists against the established art system. Renoir and the New Era looked specifically at the 1874 ‘First Impressionist Exhibition’ (that featured La loge) and how the painting itself, and the movement, represented the democratisation of culture and a new era of thought around art, politics and representation.

Accompanying works on paper by Berthe Morisot, Édouard Manet and Camille Pissarro raised the subjects of the portrayal of women in Impressionism, new approaches to drawing the figure, and depicting daily life.The exciting opportunity to display work by such important figures in art history allowed for conversation and exploration of the impact Impressionism had on modern art and our current visual culture.