| MEETINGS WITH MONET |
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Page 1 of 2 Book Paris with a pre/post to Normandy Impressionist Festival
In 1872, Claude Monet painted Impression, Sunrise depicting the early morning fog in Le Havre’s harbor on Normandy’s coast, about 2½ hours north of Paris. Monet and his contemporaries escaped to these shores to paint en plein air (outdoors) in loosened cravats and corsets to capture on canvas a more experiential connection with nature. Sunrise gave birth to Impressionism, the 4-hour seaside picnic and another French cultural contribution—the afternoon dalliance. From June 4-Sept. 26, the first-ever Impressionist Normandy Festival will celebrate the romantic art movement across the region. Planners can create an unforgettable group program that’s never been offered before, by combining the festival’s activities with art-themed experiences in Paris. In the city of Rouen (between Le Havre and Paris), the Rouen Museum of Fine Arts will be the festival’s HQ, displaying some of the world’s greatest Monets, Pissaros and Gauguins on loan from around the globe. Just down the road at Monet’s home and waterlily pond in Giverny (pron: JEE-vair-ni), 60 paintings will be on temporary view by artists including Manet, Matisse, Renoir, van Gogh, Sisley and Suerat. “I have been meeting with tour operators and meeting planners from Japan, Germany and America, and all of them say, ‘We are including Rouen now for our groups visiting Paris in summer,’” says Yves Leclerc, director of the Rouen & Seine Valley Office of Tourism. He says some are interested in 1-day trips and others want three, “because then they can travel one day to Giverny and one day to the coast.” He adds that Rouen Tourism will be the DMC of record. “This is our home, we know it best,” he asserts, while also mentioning Rouen’s new signature spa hotel, the 78-room Hotel de Bourgtheroulde opening in spring. In November, Prevue joined American buyers and French suppliers for a preview of the festival. We gathered in the salon above Rouen Tourism’s office facing the gothic 13th century Rouen Cathedral. From this airy well-lit room, Monet painted the church 11 times in various weather and times of day, with another 19 painted nearby. Art critics call the series of paintings “the climax of Impressionism,” the last one of which sold for $24 million in 2000. We sampled activities available for planners, such as a 2-hour painting class in this room. We toured the countryside to the spots overlooking the city where masterworks such as Monet’s Vue de Rouen were painted. Group lunches and art lessons are easy to combine with this tour. A docent led us through the Rouen Museum, which houses one of Monet’s cathedral paintings, Vue and dozens more. And we enjoyed a gourmet lunch in the grand covered courtyard at the Rouen Museum, with Monet’s cathedral painting brought in on display for the occasion. Capacity is about 125. So what are some of the paintings groups can expect to see this summer? “I have the list, but we are keeping secret for now exactly which paintings we will have,” says Monsieur Leclerc. “But, I can tell you we will have 10 Monet paintings of Rouen cathedral and the most Pissaros ever in one place.” |
