1883 canvas 'Dance in the Country' Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY

Nine full-length paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir hang together for the first time at an exhibit opening Tuesday at the Frick Collection in New York. Eight of the vertical large-scale canvasses, some stretching more than 5 feet high, are on loan from museums around the world; one, "La Promenade," resides in the Frick's permanent collection.

For the exhibit, the Frick investigated the tales behind the paintings. The lady's man depicted in the 1883 canvas "Dance in the Country" (pictured here), for instance, was a short-but-suave friend of Renoir's who served as a witness at the artist's wedding, says Colin B. Bailey, the Frick's deputy director and chief curator. His comely dance partner was based on Aline Charigot, Renoir's 23-year-old mistress of three years, who would bear the first of their three sons two years after this painting was completed.

The huge scale and vibrant color of these nine paintings were radical for their time, and some sold poorly. "Dance in the Country" sold with another painting for 4,000 francs in 1886, a steal even then.

"There was something powerful and new in them," says Mr. Bailey. "These pictures were edgy."

—Ellen Gamerman