An Impressive Summer

I have been visiting Rouen all my life.

It was therefore great to be in the city to celebrates its influence on the Impressionist movement as part of Impressionist Normandy, a festival of over 300 events to celebrtae the great masters, from June until September.

11 of the 30 paintings comprising Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series were brought together in one room from around the world. It was an amazing sight unlikely to be repeated due to their age and fragility.

We did not take the kids around with us this time. They enjoyed/endured Turner in London – but he was a bit clearer for them to appreciate…Samuel liked Botero’s fat people in Bogota even more!

We also visited the Musée des Beaux-Arts Andre Malraux in Le Havre (not the most beautiful town), which has the most important collection of Impressionist paintings, after the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

I also visited Galerie Bertran where you could buy your own Impressionist era painting at a reasonable £20,000-35,000. Not a bad investment.

Worth reading
What to see at Impressionist Normandy (Guardian)
France’s Rouen revisits its impressionist past (Guardian)
Impressionism on site (FT)
Normandy and the Impressionists (Telegraph)