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.

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.

If you fancy renting a holiday home in Vétheuil, you are in luck – the house to the right of this scene is available on a weekly basis in Spring and Summer, click here for more details: Holiday Rental Accommodation, Vétheuil. This would be a perfect base to visit Giverny and Paris.