Monet, Giverny & Normandy » News

Impressionists Back on Display at the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge

Thomas — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:40:47 +0000

“The Fitzwilliam is engaged in a staged programme of refurbishment of its galleries which provides an opportunity not only to refresh the displays but, just as importantly, to bring the fruits of new research and interpretations to bear on the understanding of our works. The beautiful new Impressionist gallery, one of the jewels of the Founder’s Building, achieves all of these aims in what is sure to be one of our most popular displays.” Dr Timothy Potts, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, 2011

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.

Caillebotte Nude Acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Thomas — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:14:17 +0000

Gustave Caillebotte, 1884, Man at His Bath. Oil on canvas 183 cm x 137 cm. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Just a few days ago it was revealed that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was selling eight impressionist paintings to raise money to pay for a painting by Gustave Caillebotte. Man at His Bath, painted by Caillebotte in 1884, is widely recognised to be one of the artist’s finest pieces. The painting is the first impressionist nude in the museum’s permanent collection. But this decision of the MFA’s has vexed a few art bloggers and critics. Not everyone is happy that eight impressionist pieces have been sold for a painting of what Scot Lehigh of the Boston Globe says “is not an eye-catching celebration of the human form, a la Michelangelo’s ‘David.’ Rather, it’s an everyday view of … well, mostly of an everyday butt.”

I can not help but think Lehigh is missing a point or two. That anyone should suggest in a critical manner that Caillebotte’s painting is ‘mundane’ or ‘everyday’ has surely forgotten that that is just what the French impressionists were trying to achieve, they were rebelling against the establishment and often painted the mundane aspects of everyday life that had been rejected until then. Also, the impressionists were not interested in representing the body in its finest form ‘a la Michelangelo’ – that is just what they were fighting against.

Lehigh suggests “It’s probably not worth selling scenes by Monet, Gauguin, Sisley, Pissarro, and Renoir to acquire that perfectly mundane scene.” George T.M. Shackelford, Chair, Art of Europe and Arthur K. Solomon Curator of Modern Art at the MFA, Boston, is a little more certain, “Adding a work like this one gives an indoor, urban accent to a collection that is dominated by the sun-drenched pastoral art of Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley. With Man at His Bath, building on great strengths in the work of Manet and Degas, we’ve added another icon to the collection.” I am therefore not that convinced Caillebotte’s nude is an unworthy addition to the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

But Tyler Green, an art blogger at ArtInfo, does raise an interesting point. He contrasts the MFA’s selling off at once the eight paintings with deaccesion strategies at other institutions such as the Hirshhorn, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art who have been steadily deaccesioning items from their permanent collections over the years. Green suggests the latter strategy allows for a less desperate approach to replacing existing items in a collection for something new.

The following are the eight paintings that have been sold by the MFA to raise funds to acquire the Caillebotte’s painting of some bloke’s butt:

Maxime Camille Louis Maufra, Gust of Wind, 1899
Claude Monet, The Fort of Antibes, 1888
Camille Pissarro, View from the Artist’s Window, Eragny, 1885
Paul Gauguin, Forest Interior (Sous-Bois), 1884
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bust Portrait of a Young Woman, c1890
Alfred Sisley, Overcast Day at Saint-Mammes, c1880
Alfred Sisley, Saint-Mammes: Morning (Le Matin), 1881
Vasily Vereshchagin, Pearl Mosque Delhi, c1880-90

I can not help but wonder if the fuss was over the acquisition of a full frontal nude of some buxom blonde would we have the same reaction? Of course we can not know that now. But I am am sure Gustave Caillebotte would have been amused with the fuss. Caillebotte was himself a collector of art, and owned paintings by a few of the artists the Museum of Fine Arts is now parting with for cash.

The problem is that some people see museum collections as set in stone, and I do not agree with such a premise. Collections are not finite and their curators strive to improve them. We all accept that museums do their best to acquire new pieces, as they become available and if they have funds. Other pieces are bequeathed to museums, given on ‘permanent’ loan. When these new pieces enter the collection, they do not ‘violate’ the existing collection, they add to it in some way – or so the curator hopes. But the same applies to getting rid of a few pieces, deaccesion is the correct term but it amounts to the same thing. If a curator decides to sell of a few pieces in an attempt to improve the collection, that should be as welcome as a curator who tried to add to a collection.

Personally, I would not give either of the two bland Sisley riverscapes wall space, but then I would not give up the Pissarro for anything. I am not a fan of Sisley, but after all the grand French impressionism exhibitions in France last year, I have a deep appreciation for Pisarro’s work above all the others.

Gustave Caillebotte’s almost life size painting Man and His Bath can be seen in the upcoming ‘Degas and the Nude’ exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (9 October 2011 – 5 February 2012). The exhibition travels to Paris, where the painting will be on view in the Musée d’Orsay from 12 March to 1 July, 2012. This is the second painting by Caillebotte in the museum’s collection, the other being Fruit Displayed on a Stand (c 1881–82), purchased in 1979.

About to be auctioned by Sotheby’s, in their 2 November sale.
Camille Pisarro, View from the Artist’s Window, Eragny, 1885. Oil on Canvas 54.5 cm x 65.1 cm. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Review: Monet’s Passion by Elizabeth Murray

Thomas — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:06:46 +0000

“The first month at Giverny was quite challenging, spent proving myself to M. Vahé, the head gardener, and the seven other male gardeners. None of them could understand why an American woman would want to work so hard for free. But my love and enthusiasm for the garden and Monet grew as each new plant came into blossom.” Elizabeth Murray.

Before I received my copy of Monet’s Passion by Elizabeth Murray, I knew this was going to be a beautiful volume. When I opened the packaging I was overwhelmed by the book’s beauty: the rich feel of the jacket, the amazingly rich photographs that seem to have captured every aspect of Monets’ garden, and the exquisite transparent overlays with pen and ink sketches. Having written a few books about prehistoric art myself I am all to aware of the issues involved in publishing high quality art books at reasonable prices. This latest edition of Monet’s Passion, published in 2010 to celebrate its 20th anniversary, really and truly is a snip at only $35.

But, let me not give the impression that Monet’s Passion is nothing more than a superbly produced coffee-table, picture book. For that would be wrong. The subtitle accurately sums up what lies behind this book and the wonderful images it contains: ideas, inspiration and insights. Elizabeth Murray explores the history and conceptual development of Monet’s garden from the artist’s time there, what he was creating and how, to the present Giverny, where the garden is one of France’s most visited attractions, and beyond Giverny, where today gardener’s of all capabilities seek to draw on Monet’s inspiration where ever they live.

Elizabeth Murray, a professional gardener and artist, gave up what she was doing in the US and volunteered her gardening skills for the restoration of Monet’s garden. In return she was offered an apartment and a food allowance. And for nine months she worked alongside the French gardening team, working five days a week from 8 am to 5 pm. For these efforts in bringing this wonderful part of France’s heritage back to life, Murray now has privileged access to the gardens and so she is in an authoritative position to be writing about the themes covered in this book for she has experienced the inspiration of Monet’s garden all year round. I only ever visit the gardens when they are open to the public, so from the beginning of April to the end of October, but I am always truly amazed how different the gardens are throughout these seven months, how there is always something different to take in. And this is a quality of the garden that Murray has captured in both her photographs and her writing.

Besides seemingly exploring every inter-twining aspect of Monet’s skills as a gardener, horticulturist and colourist, his love of flowers, colour and light, and how these are manifested in the ground and on the canvas, a substantial part of the book is about ‘Bringing Giverny Home’. This is not a ‘How to Recreate Giverny in Your Backyard’ manual, but rather an experiential approach to creating your own inspirational garden using some of the principles Monet used in creating his garden, the same principles his restorers rediscovered during their restoration work.

This book is a must have, and read, for anyone who has ever contemplated the many paintings Monet produced of his gardens, but particularly those of his gardens at Giverny which he did more to create than anywhere else, and for anyone who has visited Monet’s gardens in Giverny and felt inspired by them.

Monet’s Passion has justifiably been lavishly produced. There are 140 pages and over 75 colour photographs, there are also colour garden plans, transparent overlays with masterful pen and in sketches providing extra detail, and a number of historical photographs. The Smyth-sewn casebound book is 8 ¾ by 8 ¾ inches, with a ribbon marker and quality jacket. Monet’s Passion is published by Pomegranate Communications, Petaluma, CA, and is available from their website, click here. This wonderful book is also available in electronic form, follow the link above and you will be able to purchase a download of the book for your computer or laptop.

Elizabeth Murray, professional gardener and artist, in front of Monet’s house, Giverny.

Monet’s house and garden re-opens to the public on 1 April 2011. Just as Elizabeth’s love for the gardens grew with the blossoming of each new plant, my appreciation for the people who have restored Monet’s gardens, and those who continue to look after it grows with each new visit. And, I can not wait to visit it again in April. At Basse Copette I am offering 2-night, all-inclusive Spring breaks that include a trip to Giverny and Vétheuil. So become one of the first to see in Spring 2011. For all bookings made before the end of January 2011, I will include a complimentary copy of Monet’s Passion. Click here, for more information about the Impressionist Spring breaks at Basse Copette.

Online Tickets for Monet at the Grand Palais, Paris

Thomas — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:17:59 +0000

Tickets for the Monet Exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris are no longer available online.

According to a spokesperson at the Grand Palais, there are no plans to make more tickets available online. You are able to buy tickets at the Grand Palais, and the queue for entry is between 1 and 2 hours long.

You can still purchase a copy of the Grand Palais Exhibition Catalogue online.

But remember that there is also another Monet exhibition on at the Musée Marmottan Monet, until 20 February 2010.

In my opinion, while the Monet exhibition at the Grand Palais should not be missed – the exhibition at the Marmottan is in fact a better exhibition. There may be more paintings on show in the Grand Palais, but there are a number of significant paintings not on show that are important canvasses in the development of Monet’s style and contribution to Impressionism.

This is also a temporary exhibition, and includes many other personal effects that belonged to the artist. The Musée Marmottan has the World’s largest collection of Monet paintings, not all of which are on permanent display. For this temporary exhibition, everything in the Museum’s collection is on display until February. It really should not be overlooked, the hype over the exhibition at the exhibition at the Grand Palais notwithstanding.

Read more about Monet at Musée Marmatton, Paris 2010 – 2011, and book your tickets on that page. You reserve a ticket for 10.45 and are allowed entry any time during the day.

Impressionism on iPhone: the Impressionist Exhibition in Edinburgh

Thomas — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:58:35 +0000

It seems as if there is an iPhone app for just about everything these days. Not to be outdone, the National Galleries of Scotland have produced an Impressionism art iPhone app for their Impressionist Gardens exhibition currently on show in Edinburgh until 17 October 2010.

The app, which applies to both the exhibition in Edinburgh and the associated activities at the Royal Botanical Gardens, contains basic information, including a calendar of events. There is a map of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh that will lead you to specific locations in the gardens that provide quite spectacular views.

For the exhibition itself, there is specifically produced audio and video pieces that enable exhibition visitors learn more about specific works of art on show. While these are great, they are limited given there are over 90 paintings on display.

Providing exhibition visitors with this sort of information for their iPhones is obviously one way in which art galleries start to make use of new technology, and should be applauded. Sadly, this particular app is quite basic, it is not that imaginative. It is little more than a iPhone equivalent of the once standard brochure. But, this is the Gallery’s first go at producing an iPhone app, and it is free. If you have an iPhone (or an iPad or an iPod Touch) and are able to get to the exhibition, it is better than nothing. Click here to go to the iTunes website and download the app free of charge.

If you have downloaded the Impressionist Gardens iPhone app and visit the exhibition in Edinburgh, do come back to this blog and tell us what you think.

Claude Monet & Georges Clemenceau

Thomas — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:39:27 +0000

Georges Clemenceau, Claude Monet and Alice Butler on the Japanese bridge in Monet’s garden in Giverny. This photograph was taken by Henri Martinie in June 1921. © Musée Clemenceau, Paris.

When Claude Monet died, Georges Clemenceau was there to pay a final farewell to his long-time friend. It is said that upon finding Monet’s coffin draped with the customary black pall Clemenceau snatched away the cloth and replaced it with a multi-coloured shawl, saying “Pas de noir pour Monet.” (Not black for Monet.)

Monet and Clemenceau were close friends; the twice Prime Minister of France was a vocal and very prominent supporter of Monet’s art at a time when some of the critics were still very hash in their criticisms.

Georges Clemenceau was the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. He led France during much of the final year of World War I, and was one of the key figures involved in the the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference in the war’s aftermath.

To celebrate Armistice (11 November 1918), Monet decided the day after to donate two of his very large paintings of water lilies to the state. But, it was Clemenceau who persuaded him to donate the whole project. And it is these paintings of the water lilies, the Grand Decorations, that are now housed in the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris.

A new book, Claude Monet – Georges Clemenceau: une histoire, deux caractères, that explores the relationship between Claude Monet and Georges Clemenceau by Alexandre Duval-Stalla and published by Gallimard, will be released in October to coincide with the opening of the Monet exhibition at the Grand Palais. You can pre-order a copy via Amazon here:

My thanks to MGN reader Julien Somter for drawing my attention to this new book.

Normandy, Impressionism and Stamps

Thomas — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:21:47 +0000

The commemorative stamps for the Normandy Impressionist summer festival, 2010.

To mark the Normandy Impressionism summer Festival 2010, the French Post Office have produced a collection of Impressionist stamps. The collection, entitled ‘Normandie, berceau des Impressionnistes‘ (Normandy, cradle of Impressionism), features 10 different paintings of Normandy landscapes by leading Impressionist painters.

Given his importance, there are three of Claude Monet’s paintings included in the special collection: his view of Rouen (1892), one of his water lilies paintings from 1908, and a painting of the wonderful cliffs at Etretat from 1884. Monet’s mentor, Eugène Boudin is featured twice with a seascape of clouds (1854-9) and the Fisherman at Villerville (1862-5).

The other five Impressionist painters included in the special set of Impressionist stamps are: Edgar Degas, At the Races in the Country (1869); Camille Pissaro with his view of the port of Dieppe (1902) and a view of the port at Le Havre (1903); Édouard Vuillard’s Garden at Amfreville (1905-7); and Paul Signac’s The Lighthouse of Gatteville (1934)

The set of stamps come attached to a presentation page that has some information about each of the original paintings and where there were taken from, and only costs €8.90. This can be ordered online at La Post’s website, which is available in English, German, Italian and Spanish besides French (the link goes straight to the Impressionist collection page).

If any MGN readers are stamp collectors or collectors of all things Impressionism, as I am, and you are having problems buying a set on La Poste’s website, I am more than happy to arrange this for you – just get in touch with me via the contact page (given I really do have a B&B at Basse Copette, I think you can rely on a safe transaction).

Arne Quinze’s ‘Camille’ in Rouen

Thomas — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:34:18 +0000

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.

Are you planning on staying in Rouen, and in need of a hotel? The website Booking.com has more than 25 Hotels in Rouen for you to choose from. Booking.com is one of the leading international hotel comparison websites, offering a choice of hotels from 1 to 5 star. Making a reservation is easy, and so is altering it, should you need to.

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces to Houston for 2011

Thomas — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:52:54 +0000

Édouard Manet, The Railway, 1873. Oil on canvas, 24 cm x 19.45 cm @ The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
“These are not things that are in storage and are sort of being hauled out. These are [the National Gallery's] masterpieces.” Helga Aurisch, MFAH curator of European art.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, will host a major exhibition of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces from the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. for the first half of 2011.

The Houston show will have a selection of 50 paintings from the National Gallery of Art´s 19th century French collection while the galleries that usually house these works are closed for repair and renovation. The National Gallery´s Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection includes work from the greatest artists active in France from the mid 19th century to the early 20th century, a collection that ranks amongst the finest of any collection in the world. These include works by Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Van Gogh.

‘Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art’ is to be installed in the MFAH’s European galleries, Audrey Jones Beck Building. The MFAH’s collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art will be kept on display for the duration of the temporary exhibition. But, about 50 works from other periods will be temporarily removed to make way for the loan pieces.

To accompany the exhibition will be a 184-page, fully illustrated book that provides a history of the collection and individual entries on each painting.

The exhibition opens 20 February, and runs through to 22 May 2011. Entry will be by timed-entry tickets, and these go on sale from 13 December 2010. Click here to link through to the Museum of Fine Arts’ website.

Claude Monet, Woman with a Parasol —Madame Monet and Her Son, 1875. Oil on canvas, 19.48 cm x 24 cm @ The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

If you are planning your trip to Houston now and are in need of a hotel, I recommend one of the leading American hotel comparison websites, which has over 100 Hotels in Houston for you to choose from. You will find a good choice of hotels that range from 1 to 5 star. Making a booking online is easy and safe, and so is changing your reservation should you have to.

Summer Exhibitions in Giverny: Towsey, Hewitt & Bonner

Thomas — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:33:47 +0000

Mary Towsey outside Galerie 60, Giverny.

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.