Flea-Market Renoir On View at BMA

Renoir’s painting, On the Shore of the Seine, is, once again, on view at the BMA. Gifted to the museum by local collector Saidie May in the 1930s, the painting was stolen in 1951 and remained missing until last year, when a Virginia woman, claiming she’d found it at a flea market, attempted to sell it at auction. A Washington Post reporter alerted the museum, the auction was canceled, and a judge ruled that the painting be returned to the BMA. 

Now, it’s back, hanging alongside the likes of Paul Klee’s Traveling Circus and Joan Miro’s Portrait No. 1, as part of an exhibition of work donated by May. The show is currently open only to BMA members, but the general public can check it out starting Sunday. The exhibit closes July 20th.