Eurostar is using an image of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s masterpiece Dance at the Moulin de la Galette (1876) to lure London tube travellers onto its speedy service to Paris. An advert for the high-speed rail service features a picture of the Impressionist painting, which depicts the boisterous entertainment centre at the top of Montmartre, just beyond a sliding train door.
But there is a problem. Although the picture’s home is the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, for the moment it is on loan in the National Gallery’s exhibition Renoir & Love (until 31 January 2027). For British art afficados, there are plenty of reasons to travel to Orsay, but Dance at the Moulin de la Galette is not one of them. “Why wouldn’t you?”, Eurostar asks in its advert. Because it’s in London.
