A visit to The Phillips Collection has always been family-friendly and fun, and it’s even better now. The return of Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party and nearly 60 other European masterworks from a four-year, worldwide tour is being celebrated with a special exhibition. Whether your child is in first grade or in ninth, The Renoir Returns: A Celebration of Masterworks at The Phillips Collection, includes work that will appeal to your child.

Installed in the rooms of Phillips’s 1897 Georgian Revival home, this special exhibition reflects the philosophy of The Phillips Collection — that art is to be enjoyed up close and personal. "With our intimate gallery spaces, every Phillips exhibition is designed to encourage conversations between the artworks," says Jennifer Droblyen, museum educator for school and family programs. "Each gallery has been hung to transcend time periods, geographical regions and art movements by grouping paintings of European and American artists with the primary sources that inspired them." As a result, you’ll find a number of similarly themed works in the same room. With your first grader, you can look for the things each painting has in common. Your fourth grader can focus on the differences between pieces, and you and your ninth grader can discuss aspects of each work that reflect mood.

"Bring pencils and drawing paper into the galleries," says Droblyen. "Children are welcome to sit on the floor near a work of art and create pieces of their own." Talk to your children about what they’ve drawn. Why did they focus on that aspect? What moved them in the piece? What were they trying to convey? Your discussion will vary with the age and temperament of your child, but there’s no reason to take a silent, hands-in-your-pockets stroll through the gallery space.

"For an older child you might want to do a bit of research on the artists before you arrive," adds Droblyen. Looking into the historical context of an artwork will give you a starting point for your conversation. Begin with a couple of the paintings on The Phillips’s website, www.phillipscollection.org/html/collect.html, adding others you discover when you visit. You can take what you’ve learned and include it in your discussion with a younger child, too.

Since the highlight of the exhibition is the return of Renoir’s piece, Luncheon of the Boating Party, you’ll want to spend some time with it. You can find "The Story Behind the Masterpiece ..." at www.phillipscollection.org/html/lbp.html. Even if you take your children to The Phillips and focus solely on this work, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss many aspects of art that will apply to other works you see. It’s a terrific springboard for viewing art — an exciting way to introduce your children to a vocabulary and method of viewing visual art that will work for them for multiple time periods and media.

There are also many other pieces in The Renoir Returns special exhibition, which runs through July 30, that invite storytelling. Among them are Daumier’s The Uprising, Picasso’s The Blue Room, Van Gogh’s Entrance to the Public Gardens in Arles and Degas’s Dancers at the Bar. Have your child on the lookout for these pieces. Ask her what the picture makes her think about. Share your thoughts with her. Take a look at the new information cards beside each work and include details that your child will find interesting.

The Rothko Room is unique to The Phillips Collection. Paintings by abstract expressionist, Mark Rothko, are installed in a room that re-creates the scale of the original room where Duncan Phillips and Rothko first hung his work in 1960. A visit to this room provides an opportunity to be in a space where you know Rothko’s work is presented the way he intended. The paintings are large and the room is small. Your children are sure to have some comments about the way the art and space make them feel.

An upcoming exhibition of interest to you and your children will be the one featuring 25 contemporary children’s drawings, alongside childhood drawings by Klee and Picasso juxtaposed with their mature work. When We Were Young: New Perspectives on the Art of the Child runs from June 17 through September 10. Exhibitions featuring realist paintings, works by American Impressionists and pieces featuring work about the sea are also scheduled. Check www.phillipscollection.org for more information.

The Renoir Returns also marks the opening of a new gallery and special-purpose space at The Phillips Collection. Some of the space is at a larger scale, allowing for the installation of large pieces of contemporary art. Some of the space is devoted to a new Education Center where a variety of family programs will be held. On Saturday, July 15, the family education program will feature wire sculptures. There will also be "Families Free" days held in conjunction with the Young Artists Exhibition Program, which features exhibitions of art created by students in the DC Public Schools. Details of these events will soon be available on the Phillips’s website.