Following in Monet’s Footsteps on the Normandy Coast

“… Snow, and more snow, there is at least 4 inches, and it is freezing, it is starting to get us down and Monet is full of sighs because Félix Breuil [Monet's Head Gardener], say that ‘everything is lost.’ In any event, lots of frozen roses and poor tulips and hyacinths which were just coming up are all definitely damaged. Well, it’s a disaster …” Alice Monet, 4 March 1909*

101 years ago, almost to the day, the weather here in Normandy was terrible, if Alice’s letter to Germaine Salerou is anything to go by. Our winter that has just passed has been long and hard – even the seasoned locals agree. And if it was not for the green shoots I am now seeing in my garden, I would be full of sighs too. The forecast for today was welcome news indeed. So in need of a day out I thought I would spend today going along the Normandy coastline visiting some of the main Monet and impressionist related sites – a perfect day out for the guests who are lovers of impressionism while staying at Basse Copette. And of course there are lots of other wonderful things to see and do along the way as well.

So, I left Basse Copette with a big flask of tea and headed straight to the Sunday marchée at the nearby town of Blangy, picked up a cooked organic chicken, got myself a fresh baguette from the Boulangerie (and of course a patisserie or two), and off I went.

First stop was the city of Dieppe, a favourite haunt of Camille Pissarro’s. The commanding 15th century castle is now a museum and regularly has wonderful exhibitions. This summer, as part of the Normandy Impressionist 2010 festival, the museum will be hosting The Impressionists in Dieppe.

But, I particularly wanted to see the small fishing villages further south along the Norman coast, namely Pourville, Varengeville, Fecamp, Les Petites Dalles and Etretat. While living in Argenteuil, after his return from England, Monet concentrated on the Seine River with its pleasure boast, bridges and riverbanks, as well as his own gardens. In September 1879, after a long illness, Monet’s wife Camille died. In 1880 Monet’s brother took him to the small seaside village of Les Petites Dalles. They were there for about two weeks, and Monet painted four canvases. This brief stay started a 7 year focus on the Normandy Coast. As a group of paintings, those Monet created of the Normandy coast during the 7 years of the 1880s far outnumber all the others.

It was a glorious spring day to visit the seaside towns. The wind was a bit biting on the coast, but it was sunny, and good to join others who were having their winter fugg blown away. In trying to get a good photograph of the Church of Varengeville I nearly got caught by the rapidly rising tides. But, I was just time to pick a litre of mussels for an evening meal. I was in for a pleasant surprise at Etretat, the town’s spring fair. The French ‘do’ town fêtes well, and they are always a pleasure for all. And, after climbing to the top of Porte d’Aval, it was back home to Basse Copette for a mussel in calvados and saffron soup with fresh crusty French bread.

Seeing all the sites that inspired Monet’s paintings of the Normandy coast in one day is a great day out – and you really do get a different feel for these paintings having been to the sites. But more about all that in posts to come.

*Quote from page 56, Monet’s Garden in Giverny inventing the landscape. 2009. Musées des Impressionnismes, Giverny.