It was in Paris that a young Claude Monet met other like minded artists, a group that would go on to create what is generally accepted to be the most popular styles of art, that is Impressionism. It is only fitting then that for Monet fans visiting Paris today there are now some of the best permanent collections of his work on show. The three museums not to miss are the Musée de l’Orangerie, Musée d’Orsay and Musée Marmottan Monet.

Musée Marmottan Monet

First impressions aside, the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris has the World’s largest collection of Monet’s paintings, drawings and other personal effects. The building was originally a Duke’s hunting lodge when it was located on the edge of the Bois du Boulogne. It then became a museum to the First Empire. Following two substantial donations the museum became known for its Impressionist collection and its collections of Monet’s works.

Doctor Georges de Bellio, who was physician to the likes of Manet, Monet, Pissaro, Sisley and Renoir, as well as one of the early supporters of the so-called Impressionist movement, had an impressive collection of the Impressionists works. In 1957 his daughter gave this collection to the Marmottan Museum. This donation was followed in 1966 by a donation from, Claude Monet’s second son, Michel Monet, of his collection of his father’s work.

Together these two donations created the world’s largest collection of Monet paintings. It is here that you can view the painting that gave the Impressionist movement its name.

Claude Monet, Impression Soleil Levant, 1872. Oil on Canvas 48 cm x 63 cm. @ Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.

The museum is open every day except Monday (and 1 January, 1 May and 25 December) from 11 am to 6 pm, except on Tuesdays when it is open until 9 pm. For more information visit the Museum’s website.

Musée de l’Orangerie

Located on the Place de la Concorde, the Orangerie, which once the orangerie of the Tuileries Palace, now houses the series of 8 large water lily paintings known as the Nympheas that Monet gave to the state to celebrate victory in 1918.

The museum is open every day except Tuesday (and 1 May and 25 December) from 9 am to 6 pm. For more information visit the Museum’s website.

Musée d’Orsay

Once one of Paris’s grand railway stations, the Musée d’Orsay is probably the most well known of the three museums that house collections of Monet in Paris. Today this museum houses what is the national collection of Monet’s work, as well as many other French Impressionist artists. Undergoing renovation in 2010, the new galleries and layout due to re-open in 2011 promise to do the impressionist work great justice.

The painting collection of the museum is quite impressive, as it has its origins in the Musée de Luxembourg, founded in 1818 by Louis XVIII. Being a national museum, the museum also houses other substantial collections of sculpture, photography and graphic arts. The museum has in its collection Monet’s Poppies at Argenteuil, the most reproduced Impressionist painting.

Claude Monet, Poppies at Argenteuil, 1873. Oil on canvas 50 cm x 65 cm. @Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

The museum is open daily except Monday (and 1 January, 1 May and 25 December) from 9.30 am to 6 pm, except on Thursdays when it is open late until 9.45 pm. For more information visit the Museum’s website.

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I could go on talking about Monet for hours! I’m absolutely fascinated by this artist and by the way he painted. His paintings about his gardens in Giverny are mystical and mysterious, but also experimental and he kept studying on them. He could dive into a subject and paint it over and over to make it look exactly like the vision he had in mind. Monet was one of the first abstract painters, he was keen on experimenting and creating a new art movement. Arne Quinze

The city of Rouen is one of a number of towns and cities in Normandy taking part in one of the greatest festivals in celebration of Impressionism and the Impressionist artists in 2010. To mark this occasion in a grand way, Arne Quinze was commissioned to create an installation; he created Camille for Rouen, a tribute to Camille Doncieux, Claude Monet’s wife.

This amazing installation has been constructed out of ’sticks’ of wood that creates a kind of canopy over the Boieldieu Bridge that spans the River Seine. The official launch of Arne Quinze’s Camille in Rouen was at the beginning of July, and it will remain in place until the end of August.

Read more about the artwork in an interview on the Irenebrination: Notes on Art, Fashion and Style website with Arne Quinze about Camilleand Rouen here. (From where the above quote from Quinze was taken.)

I took the following photographs on Bastille Day, 14 July 2010, in the afternoon and then in the evening during the spectacular firework display that lasted for some 25 minutes.

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I have just returned from a few days in the Loire Valley where I stayed with friends who run a wonderful and highly recommendable French holiday gite. The Loire Valley is World renown for its wine and historical architecture – most notably the extravagant castles, but it also has an impressionist connection. The above painting is of the castle at Saumur, painted from the left bank of the Loire River by William Turner, a British Romantic painter whose work is often regarded as a forerunner to French Impressionism.

The view today of Saumur from the left bank of the Loire River Turner painted in the late 1820s.

William Turner is widely credited with having raised the profile of ‘landscape painting’ to rival the so-called ‘history painting. He was both fascinated and preoccupied with light, and although well-known for his oil paintings (above), he is also considered one of the greatest British watercolour landscape artists (see below). Not surprisingly he became known of as the ‘painter of light’. Equally unsurprising then is the fact that Turner was greatly admired by Claude Monet and the other French impressionist painters, also concerned with the effects of light on a subject, as well as painting ‘en plein air’ (in the open).

A watercolour by William Turner of Saumur from the right bank of the Loire River (Tate Collection).

There is some discussion and debate about the exact date of these paintings. We know Turner travelled from Nantes to Orleans along the Loire River in 1826. And it was the sketches he made on that journey that formed the basis of the paintings reproduced here (and others). The watercolour appeared in ‘Turner’s Annual Tour – the Loire’, which was published in 1833. It is, however, generally accepted that the paintings were finished before 1830.

An oil by Turner from the right bank of the Loire River.

Besides Monet’s house and garden and the Musée de Impressionismes, there are at least six other galleries in Giverny that display contemporary art. Some of these are dedicated to the work of one artist, others have a rolling programme of exhibitions throughout the season. So if you are visiting Giverny for the day or even staying in or near Giverny overnight there really is a lot to do.

One of these galleries, Galerie 60, will be hosting a joint exhibition in July of art by Mary Towsey, Amanda Hewitt and Alan Bonner. Galerie 60 is a wonderful exhibition space, from the road it looks small, but as you enter you immediately realise how wrong that initial impression was. The joint exhibition will have about 60 pieces, paintings and sculptures.

Mary Towsey studied art at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, as well as at the Epsom College of Art. Mary’s art has been exhibited extensively in both France and England. Like Claude Monet, Mary has a house in Vétheuil and also like Monet has been inspired by the wonderful surrounding landscape. Her vibrant use of colour has rightly earned Mary a great reputation as a landscape painter.

Mary Towsey’s ‘Clacheloze’.

Joining Mary in the July exhibition in Giverny is her daughter Amanda Hewitt. Amanda, who won the Lions Club National Prize for Sculpture in 2008, is inspired by the female form, particularly in her pregnant state, as well as the theme of mother and child.

Amanda Hewitt’s ‘La Femme Enceinte’.

Alan Bonner is an inspiration to all of those who yearn to be an artist but never quite dared to take the necessary first step. Alan came to art late in his career, but his acrylic paintings certainly do not show a lack of experience. He started out with figurative paintings, but has increasingly moved towards a more abstract/cubist feel.

One of Alan Bonner’s paintings to be on show at Galerie 60, Giverny this summer.

The exhibition opens on 3 July, and runs through to 30 July 2010.

The other day guests staying in my Normandy Bed & Breakfast returned from a day trip to Giverny. Even though they were keen gardeners themselves, they were quite overwhelmed by the numerous displays of tulips in Monet’s Garden and the gardens of the Musée des Impressionismes. This was all the excuse I needed to have a day trip of my own. It will come as no surprise that the various gardens in Giverny look spectacular all year round, and Giverny in spring is no different. So, here are a few photographs for MGN readers to enjoy. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the photographs.

Monet’s House and Gardens re-open in the spring, 1 April to be precise, and are open from 09h30 am to 18h00, with the last admission at 17.30. Monet’s garden is certainly a tad more manicured and organised than it was in Monet’s time, but today visitors get a wonderful idea of what it was Monet created in his own days with his gardeners; and perhaps what they might have gone on to achieve had they had the various plants and cultivars available to us today. In any event for anyone with a passion for gardens, Giverny is not to be missed; at any time of the year.

Also opening at the beginning of April is the Musée des Impressionismes. This museum is only in its second year, but it has already earned an enviable reputation for curating some innovative exhibitions of French impressionist art.

Spring in Giverny, the view from the upper floor of Monet’s house out across his garden.

The first major exhibition of Claude Monet’s work in over 30 years will take place at the Grand Palais in Paris from September 22, 2010 to January 24, 2011. It has been reported that there will be over 200 paintings on display from both French and foreign museums.

This showcase event for the Paris arts calendar in 2010 will trace the 19th century painter’s long career, starting with his early landscapes in Normandy and the Paris region from the 1870s through to the iconic and well known depictions of his garden and ponds in Giverny.

Following a major Picasso show at the Grand Palais in 2008 that attracted 784,000 visitors, the Monet exhibition is predicted to attract in excess of half a million visitors.

In anticipation of the vast numbers of people expected to attend the exhibition, and in an attempt to allow people to book tickets in advance so as not to be disappointed during their forthcoming trips to Paris, tickets will be available online as of Monday 19 April 2010.

Update: book your tickets here.

Not only is the exhibition itself one not to be missed by anyone with a passion for Claude Monet’s art, or impressionist art in general, but the setting in the Grand Palais will provide a wonderful ambiance. Built for the Universal Exhibition in 1900, the Grand Palais covers some 775,000 square feet in the form of an H and its glass roof is recognisable from a long distance, the biggest in Europe.

See also the following article that gives details of the three museums with paintings by Monet in Paris.

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In 1878, Claude Monet moved his family to Vétheuil, a small village on the Seine River to the west of Paris. When they moved to the village, Monet’s wife Camille was already seriously ill, and she was to die there the following year. Camille Doncieux is buried in the old cemetery in Vétheuil. Monet stayed on in the town until 1881. While there he painted over a hundred canvases of the village, the Seine and the Church. These paintings are now spread all over the world, such as the one above which is now in Scotland.

Monet painted the Romanesque church in Vétheuil quite frequently. He was not attracted to its appearance or anything particular about its architecture, but rather the effects of light on its façade at different times of the day, at different times of the year. Monet would return to the painting of ecclesiastical façades, in particular the Rouen Cathedral, in the 1890s.

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Of all the 90 or so paintings Claude Monet is said to have done while staying in Pourville during the winter and again in the summer of 1882, my favourite is definitely The Church of Varengeville, Effect of Morning (above). For me, it is one of those paintings that so epitomises the impressionist project, from the manner in which it was created to the finished product’s title, ‘the effect of morning’.

The church at Varengeville form the beach, today.

I had visited the dramatically placed cliff-top church at Varengeville before, but from above. Last weekend I wanted to get to see the church from the vantage point Monet had painted this particular canvas in 1882. I all but failed, I think. For a start, Monet painted the above canvas during summer when the sun plays with the crumbling chalky white cliffs so characteristic of this part of the Normandy coast; my visit (photograph above) was at the very start of spring. Also, the tide was just coming in as I was heading to the spot where Monet must have studied his subject. I was strangely torn between wanting to collect some fresh mussels from the exposed mussel beds and getting a decent photograph of the church from the beach (above). You will be pleased to know that first I set to getting as good a photograph as I could given the lighting conditions, and only then did I literally grab a few mussels for supper.

The thirteenth century church of St. Valery, Varengeville.

Much of the character of the church at Varengeville rest in its cliff-top location; it is certainly in a very dramatic position, and I feel Monet has captured this quality with equally dramatic effect his painting; it looks as if the church is about to fall into the sea. The apparently fragile church of St. Valery dates back to the thirteenth century. The cemetery has a sixteenth-century sandstone cross and contains the tombs of some famous Frenchmen, including Porto-Riche, Albert Roussel, Georges Braque and Paul Nelson. The cubist artist, Georges Braque, created a stained-glass window for the church that depicts the Tree of Jesse.

The white, chalk cliffs at Varengeville – the brown stains are created by water leeching down through the chalk.

Because of the time of year, my photograph of the church atop the cliff above does not adequately capture the character of the cliff face. The cliff face is literally dripping with brown stains created by oxidising water leeching through the chalk.

Tides allowing, I thoroughly recommend both a visit to the charming coastal town of Varengeville (besides the church there is also the Bois des Moutiers, a 12-hectare park conceived by Guillaume Mallet in 1898 that contains a house designed by the English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens with gardens designed by Miss Gertrude Jekyll. The park is said to have the biggest collection of hydrangeas in the world, with over a thousand varieties.) and a walk along the beach below from the Pointe d’Ailly.

Writing about the recovery of Poland’s only Monet painting, The Beach at Pourville (Plage de Pourville), recently got me doing more research on his time on the Normandy coast. Most people, with even the slightest interest in Monet’s work, are aware of his house and gardens in Giverny and that he made a few paintings along the Normandy coast. But the time Monet spent on the Normandy coast over a period of 7 years produced a group of paintings that far outnumber all others. And one of his more prolific years was 1882 when he spent a few months at Pourville in Winter, and then returned there later with his family in the summer.

This photograph looks over the town of Pourville, southwards towards the cliffs and other settings Monet painted at Varengeville and Petit Ailly in 1882. The photograph was taken from a point above the cliffs in the middle of Monet's painting of Pourville beach above.

Pourville in Monet’s time was a small fishing village on the Norman coast just south of the city of Dieppe. Today there is a good supplier of oysters, but other than that it is a place where the better off have their summer houses, or commuters to Dieppe live.

In 1882 Monet stayed in Pourville for 7 very productive weeks starting early February. Encouraged by the reception of his Norman coast at the seventh Impressionist exhibition in March, Paris, he returned again that year in the summer, but this time bringing his and Alice’s families with him. From early February to early April, and then again from mid-June to early October, Monet painted over 90 paintings in and near to Pourville.

Looking at his letters to his agent of that year, it is generally accepted that he was driven by financial necessity. None the less, he still produced some of his more well known, and highly thought after paintings, including the various paintings of the fisherman’s and coastguard’s cottages on the cliffs between Pourville and Varengeville, the numerous cliffs he painted at Pourville, Pointe d’Ailly and Varengeville, and of course the church of Varengeville.

Looking northwards towards Pourville (and on to Dieppe in the distance) from the beach below much the same point above the cliffs where Monet must have painted ‘Plage de Pourville’ above.

The main attraction in Giverny is obviously Monet’s house and gardens. But any visitor to Giverny really should not miss the new impressionist museum. The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny opened its doors 1 May 2009, taking over from the Terra Foundation’s Museum of American Art in Giverny.

One of the ‘rooms’ in the gardens of the Musée des Impressionnismes, Giverny

The state of the art galleries are large and airy, providing powerful display spaces, which is essential to enable the kind of exhibitions of impressionist art this museum proposes to curate. The Museum prides itself in being very well integrated with its garden, which is typical of the gardens of this part of Normandy. The remarkable gardens were designed by the famous landscape artist Mark Rudkin. Using traditional features the garden is divided into ‘rooms’, which are planted with flowers of primary colours, white, blue, red, magenta and yellow, in each.

The new museum is the result of a partnership between the leading regional bodies and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The focus of this new museum is the history of impressionism and its aftermath. And the first exhibition was Le Jardin de Monet à Giverny: l’invention d’un paysage, 1 May – 15 August 2009 (Monet’s Garden in Giverny: Inventing the Landscape). It really was a stunning opening show! The exhibition told the story of Monet’s time in Giverny, and the impact that had on the Impressionist Movement, with some 20 key paintings, 30 historical photographs and numerous other archival documents, including the Musée d’Orsay and Musée Marmottan Monet. If you did not get to see the exhibition, the exhibition catalogue is available, and is essential for any French impressionist enthusiast.

Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1914-1917, Oil on canvas (135 X 145 cm). Private Collection. One of Monet’s water lily paintings that was on show at the opening exhibition at the Impressionist Museum in Giverny, 2009.

To visit the museum’s website, click here.