Sweeping show of Impressionism

This is the most significant Impressionist show we've seen in Britain in 20 years, says an awe-struck Richard Dorment.

Inventing Impressionism at the National Gallery begins with a theatrical flourish - in a gallery inspired by the drawing room in the apartment of the Parisian art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. A blow-up of a black-and-white photograph taken in the 1890s shows what must have been one of the most remarkable interiors in Europe, a grand salon with high ceilings and noble proportions, furnished in the 18th-century taste and densely hung with Impressionist masterpieces.

All around us are paintings and objects we can see in the photograph. To our left hangs Pierre Auguste Renoir's full-length Dance in the City, in which elegant young couple in evening dress dreamily waltz in a conservatory or winter garden. Near it is the white marble group of a mother and child by Rodin that was once displayed on the mantelpiece. And rising up in front of us are the massive double doors we can see in the photo at far end of the salon. On each of the door's six panels Claude Monet painted flowers or fruits: White Azaleas, Japanese Lilies, Chrysanthemums, Gladioli and a Basket of Apples.