Two portraits by Renoir brought together at the Villa du Temps retrouvé

The Villa du Temps retrouvé is very proud to exhibit, for the first time since their creation, the two portraits painted by Renoir of the Adler sisters, both of whom were married to the Bernheim brothers.

The Bernheim-Jeune brothers established themselves as dealers for the first generation of Impressionists, exhibiting the movement’s earliest paintings as early as 1874. As Monet’s dealers, they also exhibited Pissarro, Eugène Carrière, Pierre Bonnard and Auguste Renoir. In Time Regained, Proust alludes to their gallery at 8 Rue Laffitte in Paris, which he frequented: ‘I was infinitely willing to call the portrait that had been bought the previous month at Bernheim-Jeune an ancestral portrait’.

The models for these twin paintings are Mathilde (1882–1963) and Suzanne (1883–1961) Adler. In 1901, Mathilde married her cousin Josse Bernheim-Jeune (1870–1941), whilst her sister Suzanne married Josse’s brother, Gaston Bernheim-Jeune (1870–1953). It was therefore Renoir, the gallery’s painter, who was commissioned to paint the portrait of the two young brides in September 1901. The two couples lived together in the same hotel, at 107 Avenue Henri-Martin in Paris, where these portraits were hung. Now held in different collections, they have been brought together exceptionally for the exhibition Parcours Belle Époque, running until 11 November 2026.