Claude Monet was largely influenced by Eugène Boudin, the Honfleur painter who was a forerunner of the movement. Monet himself said that it was to Boudin that he owed his inspiration. For more than fifty years the Normandy coast, towns and villages were depicted in numerous paintings, many of which enrich the collections of regional galleries today.

 

The Beaux Arts Museum in Rouen has long been considered one of the best provincial galleries in France while other excellent works can be seen in galleries in places such as Caen, Vernon, Château-Musée in Dieppe, Eugène Boudin Museum in Honfleur or the Montebello Villa in Trouville.

 

 

They were born in Normandy

 

Nicolas POUSSIN (1594-1665)  born in Villers (Seine Maritime)
Théodore GÉRICAULT (1791-1824) born in Rouen
Jean-François MILLET (1814-1875) born in Gréville-Hague (Manche)
Eugène BOUDIN (1824-1898) born in Honfleur
Claude MONET (1840-1926) born in Paris, settled in Le Havre with his family when he was 5 years old.
Maurice DENIS (1870-1943) born in Granville (Manche)
Raoul DUFY (1877-1953) born in Le Havre
Fernand LÉGER (1881-1955) born in Argentan (Orne)
Marcel DUCHAMP (1887-1968) born in Blainville-Crevon (Seine Maritime)
Jean DUBUFFET (1908-1958) born in Le Havre

 

 

The Monet Foundation in Giverny

 

No art lover will wish to miss a "pilgrimage" to Giverny (French), near Vernon in the Eure county, where Monet's house and collection of Japanese prints is open to the public. You will admire his remarkable garden and its famous Japanese bridge, the wisteria, the azaleas and the lake which inspired the pictorial universe of the Waterlilies.

Throughout his life Monet maintained  a special bond with Normandy and its unusual light.
He came here to paint and refresh himself in Rouen, Étretat, Honfleur or Le Havre. He said of Étretat, "You cannot imagine the beauty of the sea at Étretat [...] And as for the cliffs, there are none like them anywhere".
    

 

Le Havre, home to second biggest Impressionist collection

The Malraux Museum in Le Havre is probably the best place to view one of the finest collection of impressionist paintings and the most complete exhibitions of art through the ages. The Museum has now made additional space to display its recent gift of the Senn Foulds Collection, one of the finest single collections of impressionist and fauvist art.

Senn-Foulds donation has made the musée Malraux the second biggest impressionist collection in France after the Orsay Museum in Paris.

 

 

Impressionist weekends in Rouen 

 

If you would like to immerse yourself in the very heart of Impressionism, the Rouen Tourist Office offers weekends on the theme of Monet's Cathedrals. To get acquainted with the landscapes which inspired the great names of Impressionism, you can also opt for the Impressionist flight and its choice of three circuits. choix. Read more. (French)

 

 

Artists' Villages

 

Giverny, in the Eure county, is among the  places that cannot be missed. The Giverny Museum of American art is an opportunity to discover American art from 1750 to today, with new exhibitions each year.  

Take advantage of your stay in the Eure county to stop in Poses and visit Michèle Ratel's studio and gallery  on the banks of the Seine. "Transparency of water" is one of the preferred themes of this impressionist landscape painter. 

Honfleur (Calvados) and Saint-Cénéri le Gerei (French)(Orne) must also be included under the heading of artist's villages.

 

 

 

 

Plunge into artistic Normandy with the FAR FROM ORDINARY EXPERIENCES DISCOVER !

 

AND visit the 42 Treasures of History...