Normandy: An impressionist summer
Upper and Lower Normandy join together for a massive summer-long celebration of impressionism at museums and cultural institutions throughout the two provinces. One highlight is the exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen, which unites eleven of Claude Monet’s paintings of the cathedral and includes
about thirty depictions of the city by Camille Pissarro. More unusual and of interest to decorative arts enthusiasts is a show devoted to impressionist ceramics at Rouen’s nearby Musée de la Céramique, featuring pieces produced at Haviland’s Paris atelier on the rue d’Auteil under the direction of Félix Bracquemond, the engraver and impressionist painter who introduced Japonisme in France. A catalogue accompanies the exhibition.
A City for Impressionists: Monet, Pissarro and Gauguin in Rouen · Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen · Atmospheric Enamels, Impressionist Ceramics · Musée de la Céramique, Rouen · both through September 26 · www.normandie-impressionniste.fr
Photo: Chair, one of a set of seven, by Georges Jacob (1739–1814), 1775–1800. Photograph by courtesy of François Léage, Paris.
