How Much Is Portrait of Jeanne Samary Worth?

Jeanne Samary is among Renoir’s most famous sitters, and this 1877 canvas belongs to his peak Impressionist moment, when his handling of color and light matured decisively. The painting was shown at the Third Impressionist Exhibition (1877), embedding it in the core narrative of the movement’s public emergence. Works that directly connect to the exhibitions are particularly coveted by institutions and seasoned collectors. As a distilled statement of Renoir’s portraiture at the height of Impressionism—combining chromatic brilliance, intimate psychology, and stylish modernity—the work commands a premium and functions as a category leader within single‑figure Renoir portraits.

Late‑1870s Renoirs with named, celebrated sitters are rare in private hands and trade infrequently; most canonical examples reside in museums. Jeanne Samary portraits are emblematic and intensely recognizable, which reduces substitution risk for buyers seeking this exact subject from the prime period. Recent sales show that even smaller or later Jeanne Samary images attract strong bidding, and when adjusted for date, quality, and exhibition history, the 1877 iteration justifies a substantial step‑up. Scarcity at this level—both in period and in subject—supports mid‑eight‑figure pricing when offered with clear title and international market access.

The painting’s passage through the Morozov collection and its long tenure in the Russian state museum system confer exceptional pedigree. Continued institutional visibility, including high‑profile loans, reinforces scholarly standing and public recognition, both of which catalyze bidding when comparable works appear at auction. While the Pushkin holding is not actively for sale, provenance of this caliber—dealer‑collected in Paris and enshrined in a renowned collection—mitigates authenticity or due‑diligence concerns and underwrites liquidity. In market terms, such provenance typically translates into elevated confidence, wider bidder participation, and a clear pricing premium.

Recent benchmarks include the $24.435m result for a museum‑caliber Renoir portrait (Christie’s New York, 2022), $11.91m for a prime late‑1870s canvas (Christie’s New York, 2023), and €2.0m for a smaller Jeanne Samary variant (Sotheby’s Paris, 2023). These establish a ladder of value from quality figural works to top portraits, with the 1877 Jeanne Samary positioned above them due to date, sitter, and art‑historical status, yet below the $78.1m record reserved for multi‑figure masterpieces. The $35–55m range precisely reflects this structure: it is assertive relative to recent single‑figure sales, but disciplined against Renoir’s pinnacle market tier.