Five Normandy exhibitions you should see this year

Normandy’s museums are arguably among the best in France and, this year, the region is hosting exciting new exhibitions that are well worth seeing should you find yourself here over the summer. From Giverny to Granville, don’t miss the chance to enjoy first-hand the works of Normandy greats like Claude Monet, Gustave Flaubert and Christian Dior!

1) AT THE MUSÉE DES IMPRESSIONNISMES IN GIVERNY – Monet / Rothko

In recent years, research on Late Impressionism has highlighted the often-unsuspected correspondences between the works of Claude Monet and those of abstract painters, including Mark Rothko. The Monet / Rothko exhibition will highlight the evocative power of these two great artists’ painting.
While Monet seeks to convey the immediacy of a feeling, Rothko attempts a more intense approach, where contemplation expands thought. Connecting Mark Rothko and Claude Monet means inviting the public to a visual and sensory experience. Visitor’s eyes, but also their perception of space and time, are subjected to an original artistic test.
The exhibition will bring together six works by Rothko and seven paintings by Monet. Declined in chromatic themes, it will show the paintings of these two masters in an unprecedented light. Where the fleeting impression of the moment was Monet’s obsession, Rothko diluted space in the time of observation. Vertigo or contemplation, the exhibition will let the public find another perception of abstraction and modernity.

AT THE MUSÉE DES IMPRESSIONNISMES IN GIVERNY – Summer of a collection

This summer, the musée des impressionnismes Giverny is offering a new presentation of its collections. From Impressionism to contemporary art, “Summer of a collection” will allow the public to discover little-known works and recent acquisitions, for a peaceful moment between nature and art.

2) “Dior Hats! From Christian Dior to Stephen Jones” at the Christian Dior Museum in Granville

From 1947, when he founded his fashion house, Christian Dior made hats an integral element of Dior style, French Haute Couture and international fashion. The Dior Haute Mode workshop, entirely dedicated to creating hats, has remained active throughout the fashion house’s seven decades of history. Since 1996, the great British milliner Stephen Jones has kept this tradition alive and fresh, through his work for the successive artistic directors at Dior, including Maria Grazia Chiuri today.

In 2022, the Christian Dior Museum is devoting all of its exhibition rooms to the creative power and craftsmanship of Dior hats. This exhibition is a first. The exceptional collection of around two hundred hats and around thirty Dior Haute Couture dresses includes pairings that create the “total look”. These are complemented by around fifty fashion photographs and beauty or make-up magazines celebrating the art of hats.

3) LET’s celebrate the 20th anniversary of the cite de la mer in cherbourg

Throughout 2022, la Cité de la Mer will celebrate its 20th anniversary in the Grande Halle (main Hall). A special village will be devoted to the ocean in every way imaginable: culture, the arts, food, games… All the exhibitions will be celebrated in the village.

For all the family: the exhibition “Titanic, return to Cherbourg” space, opened in 2012, gave La Cité de la Mer an opportunity to reinvent itself, using the history of Cherbourg as the basis for an original and emotionally powerful exhibition for the general public.

Have fun!

4) belle epoque exhibitions at THE VILLA DU TEMPS RETROUVE IN CABOURG

From 5 March to 20 November, the Villa du Temps retrouvé will take you on a journey to the heart of the Belle Époque through a renewed exhibition of more than 150 works and a temporary exhibition “Gustave Eiffel, The Visionary.”

Take part in this immersive and sensory experience through a journey into the daily life of a fascinating time where Cabourg and the Côte Fleurie found their roots. Thanks to its unique house-museum format, you can lounge in the furniture loaned by the Mobilier national, play the piano, flip through authentic Belle Époque books, and breathe in the atmosphere of the 1900s.

The Villa offers an innovative digital approach through its immersive rooms and its numerous animated objects.
The Villa du Temps retrouvé is a house-museum with prestigious collections on loan from the greatest regional, national, and international institutions.

Boudin, Vuillard, Rodin and Helleu invite you to discover the Villa du Temps retrouvé. With an 80% renewed installation of artwork, travel to the Belle Époque with more than 150 works of art from prestigious institutions.
For the 100th anniversary of the death of Marcel Proust, the Villa du Temps retrouvé will pay tribute to him through an original artwork display allowing visitors to discover never before seen aspects of his life and his friends in Normandy.

5) nadia and fernand leger AT LES FRANCISCAINES IN DEAUVILLE

The exhibition pays tribute to Fernand Léger, whose works celebrate the workers and the Normandy countryside, with those of Nadia Léger often echoing him.

Fernand Léger (1881-1955) was born in Argentan (county of the Orne in Normandy), grew up in Lisores (county of Calvados in Normandy) and frequented Trouville-sur-Mer in the 1930s. He also painted the parasols of Deauville. So many places testifying to his attachment to Normandy and his roots.