Van Gogh, Renoir and Modigliani at the Ara Pacis: the Impressionist dream in Rome

Have you ever wanted to come face to face with a work by Renoir or Modigliani without flying to Paris or New York? If the answer is yes, then I have some news that will make your eyes light up: the Museo dell’Ara Pacis in Rome is hosting one of the most fascinating exhibitions of the season.

I’m talking about “Impressionism and Beyond: Masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts”, open from 4 December 2025 to 3 May 2026. This exhibition brings fifty-two works from one of the most prestigious museums in the United States, the legendary DIA in Detroit, to the capital.

At the Ara Pacis in Rome, a parade of masters, from Monet to Kandinsky

The exhibition elegantly moves between the birth of Impressionism and the artistic revolutions of the avant-garde of the early 20th century. You will find names that make your hands tremble: Courbet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Kandinsky and many other protagonists of the European scene between the 19th and 20th centuries.

The exhibition is divided into four sections, designed to take you on a journey through modern painting, between natural and artificial light, between figures immersed in nature and bodies rendered with abstract lines.

It is a precious opportunity to take a close look at the experiments that rewrote the language of art, transforming painting into a field of visual freedom.

Masterpieces you cannot miss

Among the most famous works on display is “Woman in an Armchair” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painted in 1874.

It is the symbolic image of the entire exhibition, with its soft tones and warm light caressing the model’s face. Next to it is Paul Cézanne’s “Bathers”, painted between 1879 and 1880, a canvas that encapsulates the tension between classical harmony and pictorial revolution.

Each room presents you with bold artistic choices, contrasting colours and gazes suspended in time. Each painting seems to recount a stage in the long journey that led art to look at the world with new eyes.

Why visit the exhibition

This exhibition would not have been possible without the generosity of the Detroit Institute of Arts, a museum that houses over 65,000 works and which, at the beginning of the 20th century, was among the first in the United States to welcome new developments in European art. Bringing such a refined selection to Rome is a rare event, one to be seized upon.

Visiting Impressionism and Beyond at the Ara Pacis means immersing yourself in a story of light, colour, experimentation and vision. It is a journey that begins in Impressionist Paris and ends in the ferment of the avant-garde, touching on all the questions that modernity has posed to painting.

Information about the exhibition

Have you already booked?

You can purchase your ticket online (click the button on this page), avoid the queues and prepare yourself for one of the most beautiful journeys you can take while staying in Rome.

Impressionism and Beyond. Masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts
Curated by Ilaria Miarelli Mariani and Claudio Zambianchi
Museo dell’Ara Pacis, Rome
Until 3 May 2026

Tell me which work enchanted you the most: I already have my favourite, but I’ll only tell you after you’ve been there.