Impressionnisme et La Mode (Impressionism and Fashion) at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. © Freepenguin

The year 2013 is going to be another year fans of impressionist art will not forget. To begin with, Normandy, the birthplace of French impressionism, will be hosting the second Impressionist Festival from April to September. And for those who can not make it to northern France to share in the festivities, there are at least five different, truly outstanding temporary impressionist exhibitions travelling between ten cities around the world.

Impressionism: sensation and inspiration

Impressionism: sensation and inspiration is an exhibition in the Hermitage Amsterdam, one of the satellite museums of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The exhibition juxtaposes such impressionist masters as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro with their influential counterparts from the second half of the nineteenth century, including Eugène Delacroix and Jean-Léon Gérôme. This juxtaposition of paintings, drawings and sculptures from the celebrated Russian collection demonstrates the source of inspiration for impressionism in their predecessors in France.

If you want to see this exhibition, you will have to hurry as it closes 27 January (already extended from 13 January). Definitely an opportunity not to pass by to see this collection of artworks from the Hermitage.

Further information is available on the exhibition website.

A History of Impressionism

This stunning exhibition, A History of Impressionism, Great French Paintings from the Clark, has been on the road for some years now – starting off in Milan at the beginning of 2011. It then traveled to Giverny in July, where I saw it – and this is one not to miss! If in Montréal, you still have a few days as it closes 20 January. From here it moves onto Japan where it will appear in two venues: at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo (9 February until 26 May) and the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe (8 June until 1 September).

The Clark collection of Impressionist artworks ranks among the top three of its kind in North America. Because of the richness of this specific collection, it lends itself like few others to an exhibition charting the development of impressionism. In all 74 paintings are included, showcasing the main impressionists, including Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. For a slideshow of all the paintings included in the exhibition, click here …

Further information is available on the exhibition website.

Impressionism and Fashion

One of the more intriguing temporary impressionist exhibitions this year links the movement to fashion. Impressionism and Fashion opened at the Musée d’Orsay in October last year, just in time for Paris Fashion Week, to rave reviews, and will travel to the US, to New York and Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (19 February – 27 May 2013) and The Art Institute (30 June – 22 September 2013) respectively. It closes in Paris 20 January.

The latter decades of the nineteenth century not only witnessed the birth of impressionism, but also some dramatic changes in fashion. That these changes took place at the same time is not coincidental, and it is the relationship between changing styles in fashion and art that this innovative exhibitions explores.

Further information is available on the exhibition website.

Monet’s Garden

The centrepiece of this exhibition is a collection of 50 artworks featuring Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny, from the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. They will be joined by a number of other paintings of a similar nature from public and private collections around the World. This is an exclusive event for Australia, and not surprisingly it is being described as a once in a life-time opportunity. Monet’s Garden at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne opens to the public 10 May 2013, and closes 25 August 2013.Read more.

Manet: Portraying Life

Currently on show in Toledo, Ohio, Manet: Portraying Life is the first retrospective to explore the artist’s portraiture. Manet not only painted his friends and family, but also some of the leading artistic, literary and political figures of his time, thus affording an interesting view on Parisian society. The exhibition brings together over 50 portraits by Manet, from collections spread across Europe, Asia and the US.

The exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art closed on 1 January and will open at the Royal Academy of Arts in London on 26 January, closing 14 April 2013.

Further information is available on the exhibition website.

I am sure as news of exhibitions for the second half of the year become available there will be others to add to the list. But for now, these five should keep everyone satisfied. For a full list of the various temporary impressionist exhibitions travelling in 2013, click here …

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Aerial view of the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, taken from the nearby Eureka Tower

Monet’s Garden gets about I tell you: from New York in the summer of 2012 to Melbourne for the winter of 2013. But the Australian showing is, unlike the re-construction of iconic aspects of the artist’s garden in New York, a collection of paintings by Claude Monet from the Musée Marmottan Monet. Some 50 paintings from Paris will be joining others from around the World, from both private and public collections, for what the National Gallery of Victoria is describing as a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition down under. The exhibition will not be travelling to other destinations in Australia.

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (water lilies), 1903. Oil on canvas, 73.0 x 92.0 cm. © Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris,

Not surprisingly, one of the highlights of the exhibition will be a group of paintings of water lilies painted between 1900 and 1919. The water lilies on the pond that the artists created himself were in fact one of Monet’s favourite themes in his later years. Not only do thousands of people journey to Giverny in Normandy to see his garden and the water lily pond, but paintings of his water lilies are every bit as popular. Besides the water lilies this temporary collection will showcase a variety of paintings of other subjects Monet painted in his garden, including the Japanese footbridge and different flowers – such as the iris, agapanthus and wisteria.

Water lilies floating on the pond in Monet’s Garden in Giverny – note the reflection of the weeping willows that surround the pond.

Placing these paintings of various aspects of Monet’s garden in context, the exhibition will also include paintings and photographs of his family and the garden he created, as well as canvases he painted while in London and Norway.

The exhibition, Monet’s Garden at the National Gallery in Melbourne, opens 10 May 2013 and closes 25 August 2013. There will be an entry fee, and a programme of events related to the exhibition will be published nearer the time. The gallery also has in its permanent collection a number of fine French impressionist paintings, including by Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre Auguste Renoir. For further details, see the Gallery’s website.

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So if you find yourself in Paris and/or Normandy in October, you should definitely consider visiting before this much loved attraction is closed to the public on 1 November for the winter season. Although October can be a tad cold, there are also bright, sunny days. And remember, should you choose to cycle or walk from Vernon to Giverny, there are a number of very good restaurants in which you can get yourself a hearty meal. The following photographs were kindly sent to me by one of my guests who visited the gardens at the end of October in 2011.

In October the Victoria creeper that covers Monet’s house is turning a deep rich red/burgundy colour, providing a wonderful contracts to the bright green of the wood work and the pink walls.

Standing on the path that circles Monet’s water lily pond you get a good view over towards the house, with the colourful deciduous trees on the hill behind Giverny providing a wonderful backdrop.

The deciduous trees that surround the water lily pond look quite spectacular with their autumn colours in October.

The autumnal colours reflected on the water lily pond.

A view across the water lily pond from the Japanese bridge.

I am sure you agree, the garden and water lily pond look as good in October as at other times of the year.

Some of Monet’s later paintings of the Japanese bridge include a fiery palette of orange, yellow and brown – perhaps drawing on the autumnal colours he observed.

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Claude Monet’s garden today is a delight to visit throughout the period it is open to the public (April to October). In May, one of these delights is the irises – iris germanica. When I recently visited the gardens at dusk when they were open to the public (free of charge) as part of the Europe-wide Nuits des Musées initiative, the paths lined with iridescent irises in full bloom reminded me of ‘The Artist’s Garden at Giverny‘ (above).

What I find quite striking on this particular canvas, painted in 1900, are the sinewy tree trunks that almost mimic the undulations you see in the way in which Monet painted the flow of the irises’ long blade-like leaves. And the paths lined with irises is something you can still see in the garden today when these flowers are in bloom. Although as is clear in my photographs below, the irises are kept in check a bit more today that they appear to have been in Monet’s time.

The painting is part of the Collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon B.A. (1929) at the University of Yale Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut (USA). The gallery has a number of impressionist and post impressionist paintings in their holdings, including Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas and others by Claude Monet. Visit the gallery’s website >>

The Artist’s Garden at Giverny is currently being exhibited as part of the Monet’s Garden show at the New York Botanical Gardens.

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Claude Monet’s Giverny garden is one of the most popular tourist attractions in France outside of Paris. Anyone visiting northern France has the slightest interest in French impressionism or Monet’s paintings come to see the grand allée, the water lilies on the ponds he created, the Japanese footbridge, the beautiful flowers, as well as his typical Norman house, with its wonderful collection of Japanese art. I can not believe anyone leaves Giverny disappointed. If you can not get to Giverny during this summer, but will be in New York between 19 May and 21 October 2012, you are in for a treat. Monet’s garden may not be in the Bronx, but ‘Monet’s Garden’ at the New York Botanical Garden is certainly the next best thing.

Working with the award winning scenic designer Scott Pask (who has worked on such productions as ‘The Pillowman’, ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ and ‘The Book of Mormon’), and ‘gardener’ and photographer Elizabeth Murray, the New York Botanical Gardens have produced a magnificent tribute to the artist, the gardens he began at the end of the nineteenth century, and the paintings inspired by that much loved creation.

The centre-piece of the show is the transformation of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Opened in 1902, this Victorian-style glasshouse manages to recreate a number of different vegetation habitats from around the World, including a tropical rain forest and a cactus-filled desert. Just the location within which to recreate Monet’s garden, or certainly parts of it. A number of the more iconic elements of the Giverny garden have been rebuilt in the glasshouse, including the façade of the painter’s house and the instantly recognisable grand allée leading up to the front door. And of course there is the Japanese footbridge, and numerous water-lilies are specially featured in the pools of the Conservatory. And over the coming months leading up to the exhibition’s closing in late October, the reconstructed garden will change just as the Giverny garden changes, so the summer irises and foxgloves will give way to chrysanthemums and salvias in the fall.

In addition to the ‘exhibits’ in the Conservatory, the Rondina Gallery in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library has two paintings by Monet of his garden that have never been seen on public display in the USA. One is a painting made circa 1900 and now in Yale University’s Art collection, and the other painted a bit later in 1915 titled ‘Irises’, owned by a private collector in Switzerland. There are also other artifacts and items from the Monet archives at the Musée Marmottan (Paris), such as bills of sale for his plants, letters and historic photographs. But perhaps the most evocative, is the artist’s palette, set in a display case in front of a well known black and white photograph of Monet standing in the grand allée with chrysthanthenums and nasturtiums all about him.

The perfect compliment to the wonderful glasshouse creation by Scott Pask is a photographic exhibition in the Ross Gallery, entitled ‘Seasons of Giverny’. These are photographs taken of Monet’s garden today by Elizabeth Murray, author of what must surely be the best book on the gardens – Monet’s Passion, reviewed here shortly after the anniversary edition was published.

An interesting and varied programme of events accompanies this special tribute exhibition. For more details about these and the exhibition, visit the New York Botanical Garden’s website.

Claude Monet’s palette on display in ‘Monet’s Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. Compare the ‘grand allée’ in the historic photograph here with the photograph of the ‘grand allée’ today above. © New York Botanical Garden.

Recommended External Links:

1. Giverny Blooms in the Bronx, review in the New York Times
2. Setting the Stage for a Floral Tribute, article about Scott Pask and the exhibition in the Wall Street Journal
3. ‘Monet’s Garden’ Review in the Huffington Post

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Monet on his footbridge (to the right), New York Times, 1922

There are so many wonderful features in Claude Monet’s Giverny garden, which does, at least in part, account for its enduring appeal. Given that French Impressionism and Monet in particular is widely thought to be the most popular genre of art, we are all ‘familiar’ with the garden before we even get there. These different features were each created by Monet, and then repeatedly painted on canvasses that are now well known, and in galleries and collections around the World. One of those features I never tire of seeing is the Japanese footbridge. Although a simple structure, it is a very striking one – flanked by willows and covered in wisteria.

Monet had the foot bridge constructed in the second half of 1893, shortly after he was given permission to do so on 24 July 1893. With his passion for all things Japanese, it is not surprising he chose such a style for the footbridge over his water lily pond. Julie Manet (Edouard Manet’s niece) visited Giverny on 30 October, and noted in her diary for that day that a ‘Japanese looking’ bridge spans the pond. Monet employed local craftsmen for the bridge, but when the gardens were restored in the late 1970s the footbridge had to be replaced.

Claude Monet. 1899. Waterlily pond, green harmony [Le bassin aux nymphéas, harmonie verte]. Oil on canvas 89 cm x 93.5 cm. © Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

As with all his other favoured subjects, Monet painted the footbridge frequently from the mid 1890s on in to the 1920s. Above, is a painting made in 1899, while that below was done in 1918-24 – and is typical of his later paintings, a character some ascribe to his failing eyesight.

Claude Monet. 1918-24. Le pont japonaise. Oil on canvas 89 cm x 116 cm. © Musée Marmottan, Paris.

I am fortunate to be able to visit Monets’ house and gardens frequently, throughout the year – although spring is certainly my favourite time of year. The footbridge changes quite dramatically over the year. In early spring it is all but bare, with an entirely leafless wisteria. As the seasons change and the wisteria comes to life, so too the bridge takes on a different appearance.

Below are a few of my photographs of the bridge, my very own Japanese Bridge series if you like – I have arranged them in order by the month in which each was taken (which ends up as reverse year order), so that you can see how the bridge changes with the seasons. Click on one of the photographs and a larger image will appear in ‘screenbox’, then move your mouse over the image and you will see where to click for the next photograph and the previous one.

Early spring, 2011

A ‘close up’ of the photograph above showing the flowers on the left bank of the pond, April 2011

The Japanese Bridge itself, towards the end of April 2010, you can see the wisteria is about to come into bloom

Taken in the early evening, when the gardens were open for “Nuits des Musées”, mid May 2011

The water lily pond taken from the opposite side of the pond to the bridge, July 2009

The bridge from the left hand side of the water lily pond, July 2009

The Japanese Bridge in summer, July 2009, there can be a queue then to get your photograph take on the Bridge

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On show in Auckland, New Zealand, during the first half of 2012 is an amazing collection of masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland. In all 79 of some of the finest paintings, sculptures and prints by 62 different artists, representing ground breaking developments in the story of Western art over the last hundred or so years, have travelled around the World to the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. And included in this exhibition, entitled Degas to Dalí, are some remarkable examples of French impressionism. These impressionists take their rightful place in an exhibition that begins in the 1860s with realism, and leads the visitor from one major art movement to the next ending in the mid twentieth century with pop art and op art.

The impressionists are well represented in the line up, with some trusted favourites such as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro (see bellow) and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It is good to see that Louis-Eugene Boudin, one of the lessor known French impressionists but no less interesting in my view, features with his painting of the port of Bordeaux (see above). Georges Seurat, normally associated with post-impressionism, is situated firmly in the impressionist camp here with his wonderful, small (only 15.90cm x 25.00 cm) oil sketch of a man bathing a horse in the Seine River. This is one of the thirteen sketches Seurat created in preparation for his more well known painting in London’s National Gallery, ‘The Bathers, Asnières’. Interestingly, there are nine works by Edgar Degas, including bronzes, pastel and pencil drawings as well as a few paintings – some of which reveal his fascination for dancers.

But this group of impressionist works are only part of a story, from Degas to Dalí. The various works are set out chronologically, so it is quite clear to see the development of artistic traditions in the West over the 100 or so years presented in the show. Not only are the developing artistic conventions clearly illustrated by the works on display, but these particular pieces also bear witness to changing social and political times from the mid nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century. Artists from Europe and the UK dominate the collection, but there are works form Japan and the US included.

The Degas to Dalí exhibition, the first major show at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki since their re-development was completed last year, and runs from 3 March to 10 June 2012. A catalogue has produced to accompany the exhibition, but at this stage this appears to be available only at the gallery shop. According to the gallery’s website, the exhibition will not be on show anywhere else. Sadly then, if you do not live in New Zealand there is no point waiting, so you might as well book a holiday in Auckland!

Camille Pissarro, 1874, Kitchen Gardens at L’Hermitage, Pontoise. Oil on canvas, 54 cm x 65.10 cm. © National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh – another impressionist painting in the Degas to Dalí exhibition, Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand.

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A number of art museums are either in the process of refurbishing their galleries or have just re-opened newly renovated galleries, and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England is one. In November last year Gallery 5, one of their more popular galleries, re-opened after an extensive make-over. This is the Fitzwilliams’ French Impressionists and other late 19th and early 20th century permanent exhibition.

The newly refurbished Impressionist gallery follows is the latest in a series of other recently renovated art and archaeology galleries, including the Egyptian gallery, the 19th and 20th century British Art gallery and the Classical Greece and Rome gallery. Besides enhanced display techniques that allow visitors to better appreciate these wonderful works of art, the display includes more detailed information about the history of Impressionism, and also how these specific paintings came to be in the Museum’s collection.

When the Impressionists were curating their own exhibitions in Paris, exhibitions that challenged every aspect of the art establishment, one of the things they did was to hang their paintings on backgrounds that were bold and striking in colour. And, they would even use several different colours within a single exhibition. Not only were they doing something radical with what they painted and the techniques they used, but they followed through with their radical approach to also include how their paintings were experienced. And now, over a century later art galleries around the world are returning to these ideas. At the Fitzwilliam, the paintings have now been hung on dramatic dark blue-grey walls.

Jane Munro, the curator of the Impressionist gallery says,

“It is wonderful to be able to redisplay their works in an appropriately vibrant setting that allows their innovative, light-infused paintings to be seen and understood as never before in the museum.”

The Fitzwilliam Museum, situated in the heart of Cambridge, has one of the finest collections of French Impressionist paintings. The artists represented in the collection include Claude Monet (see above), Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro (see below), Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley and Pierre Auguste Renoir. So visitors to the museum will not be disappointed! Have you been, what did you think? Leave us a comment below.

Camille Pissarro, 1895, Effet de neige a Erangy, avec un pommier. Oil on canvas, 38.2 x 46.2 cm. © The Fitzwilliam

Fancy a unique, all inclusive three day break in Normandy, visiting Claude Monet’s house and garden in Giverny as well as Pissarro’s house in Eragny-sur-Epte, and a chauffeured day trip along the Normandy coast where both Monet and Pissarro painted, including Etretat?

Read about the 3 day break on my Basse Copette website

The Porte d’Aval at Etretat, the inspiration for Monet’s painting above.

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A night time projection on to a tall building advertising the Impressionism Festival 2010, Rouen.

Having only just started 2012, you might feel it is just a bit too soon to be contemplating 2013. Of course, tourist authorities and organisations are planning that far ahead – at least we hope they are! But, there are also tourists who are already thinking, no matter how tentatively, about where they might visit in 2013. So, for my readers who need an incentive for a trip to France in 2013, here is some welcome Impressionism-related news just for you.

My regular, long-standing readers will remember that in the summer of 2010 Normandy hosted its first ever Impressionist Festival; some even visited a few of the many events staged during the five month Impressionist spectacle. There were over 100 events, including numerous exhibitions, musical and theatrical performances as well as many festivities and celebrations of all things Impressionism, and Normandy – the birthplace of Impressionism. There were also events specifically for children. It truly was a wonderful summer if French Impressionism is your passion, with over one million recorded visitors to the museums in Normandy. Here is the programme of events for Normandie Impressionniste 2010. And, for a few of the articles I wrote then, follow this link.

If you missed the festival in 2010, or if you are planning a trip to Normandy in 2013, you are in luck, the organisers of the 2010 festival are now planning Normandie Impressionniste 2013. With a budget of over 5 million Euros, the organisers are planning a bigger and better festival, around the general theme of water.

The deadline for proposals for associated events has only just passed so it is a bit early for a programme. As with the previous festival, however, major exhibitions are being planned in Rouen, Caen and Le Havre. The Musée des Beaux Arts in Rouen, for example, is planning an exhibition provisionally entitled, in keeping with the festival theme, “La couleur réfléchie, l’impressionnisme à la surface de l’eau”. And the art gallery of the seaside town of Fécamp is planning a promising exhibition of paintings by Monet and others of the cliffs along the Normandy coast. But as Pissaro is my favourite Impressionist artist I am looking forward to the exhibition planned for the Musée Malraux de Havre, “Pissaro au fil de la Seine” – with over sixty paintings that follow the River Seine from Paris to Le Havre.

As before the festival brings together the various cultural institutions in both Upper and Lower Normandy. The exhibition in Caen will focus on one of the seaside favourite themes of bathers, and an exciting exhibition on Dior and Impressionism will be on show in Granville – Christian Dior’s hometown.

What impressed me most about the various exhibitions I saw during the 2010 festival was the number of paintings included in the various galleries. The shear number alone was impressive, but the actual examples were brought back to Normandy from far and wide. The national organisation RNM, Reunion des Musées Nationaux, will be coordinating both national and international loans to these exhibitions, so we can be confident of some truly wonderful exhibitions again.

Besides the blockbuster exhibitions, and some more modest ones, there will also be a range of related festivities and celebrations. The organisers have promised us “un rêve” (a dream), you have been forewarned. I shall post updates as soon as they are available.

Ce seront vraiment de très très belles expositions que vous pourrez voir! Erik Orsenna, head of the organising committee.

Will this beautiful painting make a return visit to Normandy in 2013? Camille Pissarro, View of Rouen, 1898, oil on canvas. © Honolulu Academy of Arts

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Come and see the Normandy Monet and others made famous in their paintings, whatever the weather. Sit back, relax and be guided to the façade of the Cathedral and the Gros Horloge in Rouen; experience the autumnal colours of Monet’s garden in Giverny and Pissarro’s town of Eragny; as well as the white chalky cliffs of the Normandy coast at Etretat, Pourville and Varengeville.

Enjoy all this paintings, cityscapes and landscapes on an all-inclusive luxury 5 day break in Upper Normandy, staying at the highly praised Basse Copette, with your host and guide, Thomas Dowson. With meals and guided tours included, this is your chance to experience the real Impressionist France.

Day 1
 Arrive at Basse Copette and relax. Have a walk in the woods, or just sit by a roaring fire with a book. Basse Copette is surrounded by wonderful natural forests that are very striking in Autumn.

Day 2
 A spring visit to Claude Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny and Camille Pissarro’s house in Eragny-sur-Epte. This is full day excursion with guide.

Day 3 Take a leisurely drive along the Normandy coast from Dieppe to Etretat – the same white cliffs and fishing villages that so inspired the Impressionists.

Day 4 
Visit the city of Rouen which inspired the cityscapes by Pissarro and and the Rouen School of Impressionists, and where Monet painted the cathedral over 30 times. It’s truly beautiful so bring your camera or sketch book.

Day 5 Depart, or stay on at Basse Copette to explore the many other sites and sights of Normandy and Picardy. Another optional extra is a day trip to Paris to visit the Impressionist collections at the Musee d’Orsay, Musee Marmottan Monet and the Orangerie – together the biggest collection of Monet paintings in one place.

There will never be more than 4 people on the tour.

The cost for this all inclusive 5 day break includes, 4 nights dinner, bed and breakfast at Basse Copette; transport and driver as well as entry to all museums and gardens; and myself Thomas, as your personal guide. You will be free to choose your own lunch options, but recommendations are always available.

€1200 per person

Transfers to Basse Copette can be arranged from Paris, Calais, Dieppe – please ask if you’d like these. You can reach Paris by train, plane or coach. Calais and Dieppe by ferry as a foot passenger if you’d prefer not to bring your own car.

Fill in the form on the contact page to secure your reservation or to request further details.

And just a note about your accommodation and host:

“I almost don’t want to promote Basse Copette for fear that it will be overrun by visitors, making it impossible to get a room! It’s a gem of a place, with the most helpful, genial host you could wish for (and an excellent cook to boot).” September 2010.

for more reviews of Basse Copette.

As wonderful as Monet’s gardens in Giverny are – there is so much more to Impressionist Normandy – on the guided tour visit Etretat – a favoured fishing village of the Impressionists

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