On the occasion of the celebration of 150 years of the birth of Impressionism, the Musée des impressionnismes in Giverny, located a stone's throw from Claude Monet's house in Eure, is organizing, from March 29 to June 30, 2024, an exhibition dedicated to the sea and entitled Impressionism and the sea.
The title of Claude Monet's marine work, Impression, Soleil Levant, is the origin of the name of the Impressionist movement. In 1874, the art critic Louis Leroy published a scathing article on the exhibition organized by the group of avant-garde painters who were then seeking to translate their impressions onto canvas rather than following the codes of Academic Art. “I was also thinking, since I’m impressed by this painting, there must be some impression in there!” Following this pamphlet, artists took up the term “impressionist” to assume and claim their non-conformism: “Yes, we are impressionists”.
Impressionist painters, fascinated by maritime landscapes and the specific light of Normandy or the Riviera, treated the sea from different angles: the leisure activities of the first seaside resorts on the flowery coast, the life of merchant ports, the maritime industry, the storms...
The exhibition brings together 80 works by Monet, Manet, Gauguin, Manet, Pissaro and Signac, including the masterpieces La Vague by Courbet (1870, Orléans, Museum of Fine Arts) and L'Évasion de Rochefort by Manet (1881, Paris, Musée d'Orsay). At the same time, the museum is celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) by including 25 of his works in the exhibition.
Useful information
Exhibition Impressionismand the sea
From March 29 to June 30, 2024
Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny
99, rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny
