Bal du moulin de la Galette

Bal du moulin de la Galette is a painting by the French painter Pierre -Auguste Renoir from the year 1876. It is 131 × 175 cm tall and hangs in the Musée d' Orsay.

The picture shows an outdoor scene with dancing and amusing people in Montmartre. The play of light makes the scene (typical of Renoir and Impressionism ) lively and spontaneous.

It comes from the collection of Gustave Caillebotte.

Auction record

A smaller version (78 × 114 cm ) of the same subject was sold on 17 May 1990, 78.1 million U.S. $ at Sotheby's in New York City on the Japanese entrepreneurs Saitō Ryoei. After his death, the painting was sold to an anonymous buyer for $ 50 million in 1997. It is thus currently (June 2009), the eight most expensive ever sold image.