In 1976, Route 9 in Natick was already a bustling artery of commerce, but for Renate Rosenfield, it represented a blank canvas. With her children finally in school, she faced the classic stay-at-home mother’s crossroads: what comes next? After attending an “Own Your Own Business” show in Worcester, the seed of a gallery was planted. With $10,000 in hand that she was prepared to lose (if it came down to that), and a love of art, Renate was ready to take a calculated risk.
The Renjeau Galleries family. From left, Renate, Rob, and Sarah Rosenfield.Thanks to that risk, Renjeau Galleries in Natick will in July celebrate its 50th anniversary. But the story is really about a family-run Massachusetts business that began as a one year experiment started by a German immigrant with no business experience. Renate’s business plan was short and simple: try it for one year. Fifty years later, the gallery still operates in that same location.
Today, Renate is 82 and still works full-time in the gallery she founded. Her son Rob joined the business in 1990 and helped expand its artist roster, customer base, and reputation across New England. He also introduced art restoration and framing services which have since become a major part of the business. Rob’s wife Sarah now leads marketing and outreach, helping the gallery connect with a new generation of art collectors.
The visionary: Renate Rosenfield’s $10,000 gamble
Once the decision to start an art gallery was made, Renate and her husband started scouting spots in the Metrowest area. They liked the busy-ness of Route 9. A “stop the car!” moment led to a sublease on the upper floor of 79 Worcester St. At $450/month, including heat, Renate figured she could well afford the rent for that first year, stock her store with art, and still have a little left over, as long as she didn’t pay herself at first. It was a modest start, and the learning curve was steep.
“I thought we had a busy street, that’s enough,” Renate recalls of her early marketing strategy. But it was her persistence and a deep-seated belief that “beauty carries a long way” that kept the doors open. Her husband, then a civilian personnel officer at Hanscom Air Force Base, eventually joined her, and their combined efforts helped the business really take off in the 1980s, turning the gallery into a true family endeavor.
Today, Renate is 82 and still works full-time in the gallery she founded. Her son Rob joined the business in 1990 and helped expand its artist roster, customer base, and reputation across New England. He also introduced art restoration services, as well as framing, which have since become a major part of the business. His wife Sarah now leads marketing and outreach, helping the gallery connect with a new generation of art collectors.
Together, they represent three generations of a Massachusetts family business that began as a one-year experiment and grew into a 50-year Natick institution, sustained by adaptation, reinvention, and continuity in the same Route 9 location.
Bringing in new blood
If Renate provided the determination and vision, her son Rob helped usher in the future of the business. Joining full-time in 1991 after graduating from UMass Amherst, Rob threw himself into a rapidly changing landscape. The 1980s software boom around Route 128 had brought a new kind of client: owners of 5,000-square-foot homes with ten-foot ceilings.
Rob recognized that the gallery had to scale—literally. “When I first started, a three-by-four-foot painting was a very large piece,” Rob notes. “Now, I’m hanging ten-foot-wide paintings on the Cape.” Beyond size, Rob brought the gallery into the digital age. In 1999, long before “online presence” was a corporate buzzword, he had a friend code a website from scratch, ensuring that the gallery’s inventory of over 300 artists would rank in the burgeoning search engines.
Perhaps the most critical “bridge” Rob built was helping secure the gallery’s physical future. When the building’s owner decided to sell, the Rosenfields found themselves in a bidding war that was so unrealistic that it was more of a skirmish, one they lost—at first. After some sleepless nights, the deal fell through for the other buyers, and the Rosenfields stepped in. Owning the property became the anchor that allowed them to survive the rising rents that shuttered so many other family businesses that were at one time a hallmark of Route 9 commerce.
Marrying well
The third pillar of the Renjeau Galleries legacy is Sarah, Rob’s wife, who joined full-time five years ago. While Renate built the foundation and Rob built the infrastructure, Sarah is building the community. In an era where high-end art galleries can feel “fancy and imposing,” Sarah emphasizes a down-to-earth atmosphere.
She has leveraged social media, specifically Instagram, to reach new generations of collectors. Her focus is on the stories behind the art—the “why” that brings a piece of work into a home. Whether it’s hanging the gallery to keep the visual narrative fresh or helping clients frame sentimental treasures like Boston Marathon medals or a rare newspaper from Lincoln’s inauguration, Sarah sees the gallery as a repository of memories.
“I love when new artwork comes in,” Sarah says. “I get bored with seeing the same things on the walls.” This restless creativity ensures the gallery remains a living, breathing entity rather than a museum of the past.
Fifty years of perspective
As the gallery approaches its half-century mark, the Rosenfield family looks back on a journey fueled by “sheer luck” and “hard work.” They have survived economic shifts, the advent of the internet, and the changing architectural tastes of New England.
Today, the business is more than just a shop on Route 9; it is a testament to a dream, the stability of a family bond, and the enduring power of art to make a house feel like a home.
Congratulations to Renjeau Galleries on 50 years and counting.
Expand your reach by advertising on Natick Report
