Monet in Normandy
 

Good morning

I am already doing the research on this, and have some ideas. I thought that starting a thread here would not only add to what I am researching, but might also be helpful to others looking (or just give someone some good ideas for a visit).

So, in this trip coming up, I am spending one night and a good chunk of the days on either side hunting down Monet. I will have a car and leave Paris.

I've already been to Giverny twice but since it is on the way I will probably stop again. Rouen is also a stop, if for no other reason to see the Cathedral.

I will be staying in Etretat overnight, and, the next day will visit Le Havre for a few reasons - it is a UNESCO site, the fantastic museum there, and of course Monet spotting.

Honfleur is also a stop on my little tour.

In the coming days I plan to peruse my Exposition catalog (from my Jan 2011 whirlwind weekend trip to see it) but I was wondering if anyone here had anything to say about visiting Monet in Normandy.

Thank you for any thoughts!

No one?

you've already kind of mapped it all out, I don't think there is much to say. I'm not a Monet groupie but have been to several of your sites, of course. I know you probably aren't interested in this, but one thing I enjoyed the most in Honfleur was seeing the museum in Erik Satie's home, but you have to be interested in French classical composers (and probably him) to want to do that.
http://www.ot-honfleur.fr/decouvrir-...maisons-satie/

My favorite restaurant in Honfleur is Le Chat qui Peche. http://www.chatquipeche.com/

Of course MOnet painted the seaside at Trouville several times (including on his honeymoon), you could visit that, I suppose. And he painted the beach resort town of Sainte Adresse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Adresse

They have some impressionist works in the fine arts museum in Rouen, also, including some Monets. They have one of the cathedral, of course. http://mbarouen.fr/en

Hi Flygirl,

Needless to say you must have scoured the Marottan-Monet Museum in Paris already. Loved that place. I noticed that several of Monet's works in that museum had darker hues - deep orange, for instance, than many of his other works.

Of course, you could hop over to London to view his landscapes of the Thames and the Houses of Parliament at the turn of the century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houses_...es_%28Monet%29

He also painted the Thames in 1870 from his perch at the Savoy Hotel on the Strand as he sought to escape the Franco- Prussian War. His "Thames below Westminster" has pride of place at the National Gallery.

Happy hunting. Sounds like a great theme for a trip...

I believe he grew up in Le Havre, so maybe check the Tourist Office there to see if there's anything relevant.

He painted Les Falaises de Varengeville, so maybe you can find that.

In Honfleur you might visit the Musée Eugène Boudin. It's a sweet little museum, and Boudin was his friend and mentor.

There's a book by Anne-Marie Bergeret-Gourbin called Monet: La Normandie that might give you some ideas.

And not Monet-specific, but if you haven't been to the château in AUvers-sur-Oise, it feature marvelous exhibits about the Impressionists.

Thank you for the replies! This gives me a few more ideas.

LDT, yep, I've been to the Marmottan a few times. I probably won't make it, this trip, but on a different trip I may go again...

I wanted to come back again and post something that should prove to be VERY helpful:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Paris-Impr...onist+Normandy

Again, thank you for the replies. They are going in my notes for this visit.

What a useful post!

How nice to have a good, specific question rather than "What is there to do in France."

And what excellent answers! I hadn't thought of doing this particular trip, but it is tempting. I love Eugene Boudin, who painted in some of the same areas, and Satie as well!

Thanks, all.

Do you know the BBC miniseries called "The Impressionists"? By coincidence, last night we watched the first program (from Netflix).

The settings are beautiful, as you can imagine. What made me think of you is that it shows the actors playing Monet and Renoir painting en plein air along the Seine. Then a picture of their actual paintings shows up with their names.

That happens throughout the first program whenever a particular painting is mentioned.

Watching this series should get you in the mood (although I think are already in the mood) and it might give you ideas of locales where Monet painted.

Ackislander, I aim to please. ;) I've long wanted to do this - not merely see Giverny, but hunt down other places where he painted.

I found out through my research that in Le Havre, where he painted "Impression, Sunrise" (painting that kicked it all off) there is a plaque in the very spot where he painted. I will, of course, hunt that plaque down so expect to see a photo of it at some point.

Coquelicot, I put that in my queue, thank you so much!

I love this place, you think you have a good handle on what to do and see and then someone comes up with new interesting things to look up. Good hive mind!

It certainly helps, too, to have specific ideas instead of a blank slate. I'd like to think most of my travel query posts afll into the former category.

If you happen to still be in Rouen at nightfall, you will be able to see an unusual light show projected onto the facade of the cathedral, during which they recreate some of the effects Monet used in his paintings. I think it is put on every night in the summer. It's very well done.

Oh bummer of bummers, BOTH museums are closed on Tuesdays. Which happens to be day two of my odyssey and the day I had planned for both of those towns.

I can't leave Paris Monday morning and fit in all of Giverny, Rouen (even if all I visit is the Cathedral) and both museums - or even one museum, probably. Even if I leave the (Monet) exploration of both towns for Tuesday and just focus on the museums, that's too much. I might be able to give one museum a quick run, but that would be it. And by Tues night I will be in Bayeux.

I don't think one has to be a "Monet groupie" to appreciate a revolutionary who changed the face of painting for all time.

@flygirl, have you been to the Musee des Impressionnismes Giverny?

Beth, buy the beautiful book, A Taste Of Giverny.

Toupary, I have not. Only the gardens. I will visit that, then (assuming they are open on Monday).

Cigale, thank you!

Hi Flygirl

"Oh bummer of bummers, BOTH museums are closed on Tuesdays. Which happens to be day two of my odyssey and the day I had planned for both of those towns."

I hear you - it's so frustrating. The day we were in Rouen, the cathedral was closed because it was a Monday.

Let's hear it for the Brits most of whom only close their museum doors on Christmas. :)

@flygitl, according to their website, www.mdig.fr, they areopen every day from 28 March to 2 November.

The Cathedral in Rouen is closed on Mondays? hahaha!

I can't change my dates - not without hassle. Luckily Giverny is now open on Mondays, because it wasn't previously.

So, after Giverny if I go to Rouen (Monday) I can see the cathedral but not go in. And if I don't see those coastal Impressionism museums on Monday (or even one), I won't see them at all.

The museum IN Giverny sounds great, though, and I'll at least be visiting the sites. The museums weren't there, then, after all.

Flygirl, sorry to distress you. I was in Roeun in 2012. Best to check and see if that is still the case. If I recall, the modern church in the center of town commemorating the death of Joan of Arc was closed for an extended lunch period when we were passing through also.

It's not so much distressing as "it figures". Good thing I'm not being paid to be a tour guide. I really can't change the dates on this - and my visits will be geographically logical so it is what it is.

At the end of the day I'll still see most of what I want to see, as well as the museum at Giverny which I didn't see the last time. The museums were mostly going to be a bonus anyway.

Thank you to everyone for the tips and updates!

flygirl, I am paid for this, and I discovered last night that something I had been planning for a morning only takes place in the afternoon. Never mind that I've done this several times or that I've been on their website many more times. Sometimes things just fall through the cracks. I;m just glad I caught it in time.

Wflygirl, this might be worth checking out.

http://mbarouen.fr/en/le-musee-des-beaux-artsGorthic

The Gothic exhibition sounds interesting, but I think we can assume, if they named their resto after Sisley, that they have an Impressionist collection. I don't have firt-hand knowledge.

Wow! Thank you toupary! That will definitely make up for the other two museums being closed.

It appears to be a ten minute walk from the Cathedral, too.

Odds are I will be having lunch in Giverny and not Rouen - assuming I arrive there by 11 AM, and, tour the gardens and museum. But this will make a pleasant cap to the afternoon.

After that I will just drive straight to Etretat. I should have plenty of time to wander around well before sunset, have dinner, and then get some nice sunset photos of the cliffs...

I wanted to top this and say that the book reco is marvelous and is going in my bag. The BBC series is fantastic. I just watched disc one and will start disc two soon.

I love directed planning. You be my peeps, flygirl.

BTW--The inside of the Rouen cathedral was a "meh" for me. In fact the only remarkable memory I have of it is that I was astounded people brought their dogs in to tour it.

In fact, I'm still astounded.

I digress.

My point is, the OUTSIDE is never closed. And we all know the exact view you want to see.

Enjoy it all,
AZ

AZ, I see you are heading out with Backroads soon! I LOVE Backroads. I've only done hikes, though. They are a great way to get a slice of the country - they tie all the ribbons and bows for a great experience.

Thanks, flygirl. One of the problems we've found, however, is that on trips that have larger biking challenges, the clientele tends to eschew art opportunities.

For example, we loved our Provence biking companions, but they were so hungry for climbs that they did not want to take the personal tour of the Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Rémy offered. Only four of us out of 22 took the tour. I kept thinking, "You guys! This lady knows EVERYTHING about Van Gogh. Stop! Look! That hill will be there when you're done."

One of the guides told me afterward that the same thing had happened on the previous trip, and they were considering cutting the tour out. (!!!!!)

You can imagine our enjoyment when on our "Pyrenees to Costa Brava" Backroads trip, EVERYONE took advantage of all the Dali stops offered. The guides themselves were surprised--and thrilled.

So I'm cheering you on on your tour-de-force for Monet. By the way, our book group read "Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet". It is romantic historical fiction (not my thing), but I must admit I did start digging up his older works and looking at them differently as a result, so I did not beat up the person who recommended it.

AZ, if you are still reading this - I also recently found out about a big exhibit in Yerres, on Caillebotte. It was his family's summer home and apparently this is the first time this many of his paintings have been exhibited there. They are getting paintings from various museums as well as private collections.

It won't be quite as big as the monumental Monet Exposition in 2011 (which I did visit - on a two day/two night wkd blitz to Paris just to see it before it closed - gotta love living on the east coast) but it's supposed to be unprecedented - in recent history anyway.

I did not get to see the 2011 Monet Exposition, and I had been hoping to do so. I did get to see the "Turner, Whistler, Monet" Exhibition at the Grand Palais a few years ago, though.

Of course, one of my most outstanding memories was not the art--most of which I'd been lucky to see before in various locations and combinations--but that it was one of the few times my youngest and I were able to drag my sister into an art exhibit (and her reaction was, "This wasn't SO bad.")

Flygirl, THANK YOU for this information about the Yerres exhibit. I had no idea one could hop on the RER D to get down there. That show is getting excellent reviews. If you go, I hope you report on the town, too. Happy trails.
AZ