Dance at Bougival Auction History

Artist retained and deposited the painting with Durand‑Ruel in 1883, retrieving it in 1884; it was again deposited and shipped to New York in 1886 [1]. November 22, 1886, Renoir sold it to Durand‑Ruel, which sold it the same day to Mme. Hiltbrunner [1]. Hiltbrunner deposited it in 1889 and sold it back to Durand‑Ruel on August 25, 1891 (transferred to Paris in September) [1]. On January 2, 1894, Durand‑Ruel (Paris) sold the work to Félix‑François Depeaux of Rouen [1]. In the court‑ordered Depeaux sale at Galerie Georges Petit, May 31–June 1, 1906, it was purchased by Edmond Décap [1][2]. By descent it passed to Maurice Barret‑Décap (Biarritz) [1]. In 1937 Barret‑Décap sold it—possibly via Anthony H. Manley—to Paul Brame and César de Hauke for Jacques Seligmann et Fils (Paris); on March 19 it was transferred to Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York [1]. In April 1937 Seligmann sold the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for $150,000 (accessioned May 5, 1937) [1].

Dance at Bougival is a cornerstone of Renoir’s full‑length figure paintings and has been institutionally anchored since 1937, when the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acquired it from Jacques Seligmann & Co. for $150,000 [1]. The painting’s brief appearance at public auction in the court‑ordered Depeaux sale at Galerie Georges Petit in 1906 confirms a documented market exposure, but no price is recorded in the MFA’s entry [1][2]. The decisive market moment is the 1937 museum purchase, which removed a top‑tier, monumental Renoir from private circulation for nearly nine decades, limiting the supply of comparable works [1].

Scholarly attention has reinforced its standing: the Frick Collection’s 2012 exhibition, Renoir, Impressionism, and Full‑Length Painting, spotlighted the canvas as central to the artist’s ambitions in large‑scale figure painting, further consolidating its blue‑chip status despite its absence from the contemporary auction arena [3]. In broader market terms, Renoir’s apex prices—such as the $78.1 million result for the smaller version of Bal du moulin de la Galette in 1990—frame expectations for masterpiece‑level subjects, though that benchmark post‑dates and is independent of the MFA’s acquisition [4]. Together, the documented 1906 auction, the 1937 $150,000 museum acquisition, and sustained scholarly prominence explain why this picture is rarely discussed as a tradeable asset today: it is both institutionally held and among the most celebrated of Renoir’s full‑length works [1][3].