Normandy Impressionism Festival 2013

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