impressionist adventures THE NORMANDY & PARIS REGION GUIDE 2020 IMPRESSIONIST ADVENTURES, INSPIRING MOMENTS! elcome to Normandy and Paris Region! It is in these regions and nowhere else that you can admire marvellous Impressionist paintings W while also enjoying the instantaneous emotions that inspired their artists. It was here that the art movement that revolutionised the history of art came into being and blossomed. Enamoured of nature and the advances in modern life, the Impressionists set up their easels in forests and gardens along the rivers Seine and Oise, on the Norman coasts, and in the heart of Paris’s districts where modernity was at its height. These settings and landscapes, which for the most part remain unspoilt, still bear the stamp of the greatest Impressionist artists, their precursors and their heirs: Daubigny, Boudin, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Caillebotte, Sisley, Van Gogh, Luce and many others. Today these regions invite you on a series of Impressionist journeys on which to experience many joyous moments. Admire the changing sky and light as you gaze out to sea and recharge your batteries in the cool of a garden. Relive the artistic excitement of Paris and Montmartre and the authenticity of the period’s bohemian culture. Enjoy a certain Impressionist joie de vivre in company: a “déjeuner sur l’herbe” with family, or a glass of wine with friends on the banks of the Oise or at an open-air café on the Seine. Be moved by the beauty of the paintings that fill the museums and enter the private lives of the artists, exploring their gardens and homes-cum-studios. Our Impressionist adventures offer endless inspiring moments. Just choose the ones you wish to enjoy! ROUEN ITINERARIES & THE SEINE’S Your Impressionist journey MEANDERS 6 à la carte 46 Explore Rouen, an open-air BON VOYAGE studio for the impressionists In Normandy and Paris Region, enjoy For the year 2020, look out for many PARIS & unique experiences in nine different exciting new things. These include THE SEINE areas deeply marked by the great renovated museums, such as the Musée MONTMARTRE Impressionist movement. Whether de l’Orangerie in Paris and the Musée ESTUARY Discover the masterpieces in urban settings or the open Maurice Denis at St-Germain-en-Laye, 52 From Le Havre to Deauville 8 of Impressionism and relive via Honfleur, relive the dawn the brillance of the period countryside, on the banks of the Seine new museum presentations, for of Impressionism or the seashore, in unspoilt forests example at the Musée Fournaise or the intimacy of a private garden, in Chatou, and a brand-new cultural BARBIZON, ITS these areas still preserve today all space in Deauville, Les Franciscaines, THE CÔTE SURROUNDINGS the beauty of the landscapes that that will exhibit a beautiful permanent inspired the Impressionist painters. collection of Impressionist works... D’ALBÂTRE 16 & YERRES 58 Enjoy a helping of art Discover Impressionism This guide presents a fine selection Also keep a keen eye out on on the Côte d’Albâtre and its precursors south of Paris of museums, artists’ houses, visits the Normandie Impressionniste and sites for you to visit. Festival, taking place this summer, featuring almost 500 events across FROM CAEN THE BANKS 200 sites, celebrating artistic creativity TO THE OF THE SEINE from the Impressionists to the present. COTENTIN 22 Enjoy the beauty of the banks 62 of the Seine just outside Paris At the time this brochure Drift with the currents was going to press, of Impressionism the global health situation remained highly uncertain, AUVERS putting into question some of the practical information EXCURSIONS & THE OISE contained here. Please, before planning any trip, may From Paris to Normandy, VALLEY we strongly advise that you in the footsteps of the Impressionist 30 check the relevant websites painters From Pissarro to Van Gogh, follow 68 of the places mentioned in the footsteps of great artists here and the websites of the Normandy and Paris region Tourist Boards: en.normandie-tourisme.fr GIVERNY & ITS visitparisregion.com/en DIARY SURROUNDINGS A selection of exhibitions from across our Impressionist regions See Giverny and experience 40 and featuring in the Normandie Impressionism in Claude Monet’s 72 Impressionnisme festival “ ever so beautiful corner of the world ” Varengeville- sur-Mer Netherlands Dieppe Great Britain Offranville Belgium Germany Veules- Luxembourg Fécamp les-Roses Beaumont- Yport Gréville-Hague Hague Barfleur Étretat THE CÔTE D’ALBÂTRE Vauville Cherbourg- FRANCE Switzerland Saint-Vaast-la Hougue en-Cotentin Sainte-Adresse Rives- Rouen Italy Le Havre en-Seine Grandcamp-Maisy Port-en-Bessin- Huppain Trouville-sur-Mer ROUEN & THE SEINE’S Deauville Honfleur MEANDERS Houlgate Pont-Audemer Bayeux La Bouille -Sahurs Spain THE SEINE Les Andelys ESTUARY GIVERNY & FROM TO Caen CAEN ITS SURROUNDINGS THE COTENTIN AUVERS & Vernon La Roche- Fervaques Guyon THE OISE VALLEY Giverny L’Isle-Adam Pontoise Auvers-sur-Oise Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône Mantes-la-Jolie Saint-Germain- Chatou Asnières en-Laye Croissy-sur-Seine Île de la Jatte Bougival PARIS & MONTMARTRE & Marly-le-Roi NORMANDY Meudon THE BANKS Yerres PARIS REGION OF THE SEINE FROM YERRES TO BARBIZON Barbizon Vulaines-sur-Seine Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei Fontainebleau Moret-sur-Loing CHATOU 17 BARBIZON 60 73 YERRES 28 52 42 AUVERS-SUR-OISE 33 34 96 70 GIVERNY 75 68 136 110 62 ROUEN 136 125 191 175 105 67 IMPRESSIONIST LE HAVRE 210 188 252 236 206 132 90 9 DIEPPE 198 190 253 237 166 133 67 118 AREAS DISTANCES IN PARIS Site discussed Further ROUEN YERRES CHATOU GIVERNY KM LE HAVRE in the brochure Impressionist sites BARBIZON AUVERS-SUR-OISE , 1876, Musée d’Orsay, Paris Paris , 1876, Musée d’Orsay, PARIS & MONTMARTRE Bal du moulin de la Galette Auguste Renoir, Auguste Renoir, © photo RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Patrice Schmidt DISCOVER THE MASTERPIECES OF IMPRESSIONISM AND RELIVE THE BRILLIANCE OF THE PERIOD aris is an unmissable destination in our Impressionist adventures. In 1859, Claude Monet moved from Le Havre P to the capital, which he referred to as “head-spinning Paris”. Napoleon III had recently undertaken huge public works, directed by Baron Haussmann. Paris’s appearance altered dramatically and the transformations generated a great change in the way of life of its inhabitants. Café-concerts, brasseries, balls, circuses, operas and theatres, parks and public gardens, horseracing and many other forms of recreation began to flourish. So many places sprang up that the Impressionists frequented and depicted as chroniclers of the modern way of life. Manet , Monet, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro, Caillebotte and others were thrilled by the city and its bustling life, which offered them new themes. Today, Paris is home to the world’s largest collection of Impressionist paintings, to which Claude Monet made a major contribution. Paris is also packed with places from the Impressionist era. A visit to the Butte de Montmartre is a must. Its squares packed with history, its streets lined with cafés and its famed nightspots still reflect the joie de vivre and liveliness of the Impressionist era. © CRT Paris Region Tourist Board / Yasuhiro Ogawa / Yasuhiro Board © CRT Paris Region Tourist 9 MUSÉE MUSEUM D’ORSAY © Van Biesen / Ooshot / CRT Paris Region Tourist Board Biesen / Ooshot CRT Paris Region Tourist © Van MUSÉE DE L’ ! © Musée d’Orsay / Sophie Boegly ORANGERIE TOP TIP In 1986 the old station built to receive visitors to the Universal Exposition For André Masson (a pattern-drawer who became a painter) COMBINED TICKET of 1900 was turned into a museum dedicated to the arts of the years 1848–1914. this museum is the “Sistine Chapel of Impressionism”. MUSÉE D’ORSAY & MUSÉE This exceptional building is home to some of the greatest Impressionist paintings, It holds the greatest and largest series of Water Lilies, DE L’ORANGERIE such as Olympia and Le déjeuner sur l’herbe by Édouard Manet, masterpieces that Claude Monet offered the French Access to both the permanent Women Ironing by Edgar Degas, the Dance at the Moulin state in 1918. These eight mural paintings made up and temporary collections: de la Galette and The Swing by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, of 22 panels line two oval rooms bathed in natural light a visit to each of the two museums for €18. Validity: three months from date of purchase. and London, Houses of Parliament and Rouen Cathedral thanks to their glass roofs. The museum also holds by Claude Monet. Other masterpieces the entire Walter Guillaume Collection of 146 works, COMBINED TICKET in the museum include Starry Night INSPIRING including 25 by Renoir, 15 by Cézanne, and 1 each MUSÉE DE L’ORANGERIE and The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise by Gauguin, Monet and Sisley, presented in a brand-new & FONDATION CLAUDE MONET by Vincent van Gogh. MOMENTS hanging that will be unveiled from mid-May, GIVERNY in renovated rooms. On sale at both sites concerned. MUSÉE D’ORSAY After leaving the Musée d’Orsay €18.50 (on sale until 10 October) or the Orangerie, prolong the Impressionist MUSÉE DE L’ORANGERIE 1 rue de la Légion d’Honneur, experience with a walk in the Tuileries Gardens. 75007 PARIS An archetypal facet of life in Paris, this magnificent Place de la Concorde, 75001 Paris Tel: 01 40 49 48 14 park in the French style, lying between the Louvre Tel: 01 44 77 80 07 www.musee-orsay.fr and the Place de la Concorde, fascinated Claude www.musee-orangerie.fr Monet and Pissarro in particular. From Orsay, take the Léopold Sédar Senghor footbridge that spans the Seine and stroll to MUSEUM the Tuileries Gardens and Musée de l’Orangerie. 10 11 © SLB / Christian Baraja MUSÉE MUSEUM MARMOTTAN ! © JP. Delagarde / CRT Paris IDF Delagarde © JP.