Paris, the capital of the arts, drew painters to its fascinating atmosphere. Yet, with the spread of the railroads and the invention of paint tubes, which enabled a new ease of movement, plein-air painters began to explore motifs beyond the confines of the city and most notably in nearby Normandy.

It all began in Le Havre, with Monet's 1872 painting Impression, Sunrise, which gave its name to the Impressionist movement. Normandy became an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the Impressionists. In Etretat Monet confronted the famous hollow needle, and in Rouen, Pissarro, captured the atmosphere of the old city and its industrial port, and Monet that of the medieval cathedral. Dieppe inspired the lively canvases of Renoir and Eva Gonzales, one of the few women in the movement. The charms of Honfleur and Trouville were consecrated by Boudin, and the roots of Impressionism can be found in Millet’s renderings of the wild Cotentin coast.

From Paris to Le Havre, via Rouen, Impressionism left its mark everywhere in Normandy. In this lecture, Anne Catherine Abecassis will aslo evoke the multiple exhibitions planned in the region to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Impressionism in 1874.

Every month, on the third Saturday, Christophe Boïcos and Anne Catherine Abecassis take turn and host a conference, followed by a short Q&A session. The conference will be recorded live, and available online for one month.

Starts at 5:00pm (CET) / 11:00am (ET) / 8:00am (PT) - available on replay for one month

All invitations are personal and non-transferable.

Credits: Claude Monet, La Manneporte, Etretat, 1883, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York