The Seine Estuary

The Impressionists, attracted by the unique, ever-changing light play in the estuary, attempted to capture its colours on canvas. Le Havre was the setting, and the inspiration, for Claude Monet's famous 1872 painting: Impression, Sunrise, which gave birth to the Impressionist movement.

From Le Havre to Deauville

Relive the dawn of Impressionism

With its major sites of Le Havre and Honfleur, this region of Normandy will fill you with a host of fleeting impressions experienced and exalted by the Impressionists. Watch the changes in the sky and light dear to Boudin in Honfleur, stroll by the docks and admire the breathtaking view from the Côte de Grâce immortalised by the Impressionist painters. Share, 145 years later, the experience with Monet of a sunrise over the sea from the wharfs of Le Havre.

The spreading of the railways provided the Impressionists with the chance to make the nooks and crannies of Normandy their motifs. Some set up their easels on the coastline. Was it not Eugène Boudin who advised the young Claude Monet to paint seascapes as, to his eyes, “the sea and its skies are so beautiful”?

Thus Monet too glorified Sainte-Adresse. Eugène Boudin employed his talent and mastery of detail to portray Honfleur and Trouville. And Camille Pissarro depicted the bustling port in Le Havre in over 20 paintings.

The birthplace of Impressionism!
Honfleur © Thierry Houyel
 
Le Havre ®g.cassiau - les-escapades.fr
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Not to be missed