The “Impressionists in Normandy” Exhibition with Over 70 Works Opens at the Innocenti Museum

Starting from November 21, the Innocenti Museum in Florence will host the exhibition "Impressionists in Normandy," celebrating the 150^th anniversary of the birth of the Impressionist movement. This movement began in April 1874 when 31 artists, including Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, and Cézanne, exhibited their works at photographer Nadar’s gallery in Paris, giving rise to an innovative and revolutionary form of art. The exhibition will be open until 4 May 2025.

The event is an opportunity to explore the profound connection between Impressionism and the landscapes of Normandy, a place of inspiration for the painters of this current, characterised by intense light, cliffs, sea and beaches that influenced the work en plein air of the artists. The exhibition opens with a masterpiece by Monet, The Pink Water Lilies, on loan from the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. The work dates back to the years from 1897 to 1899, when Monet was working on his famous water lily decorations for the Orangerie in Paris. The painting, acquired by the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in 1962, is undoubtedly one of the most emblematic images of Impressionism and encapsulates the research that Monet carried out in his garden at Giverny, where his en plein air painting evolved until it became almost liquid and devoid of detail.

The exhibition brings together more than 70 works, mostly from the prestigious Peindre en Normandie Collection, together with loans from the Musée d'art moderne in Le Havre and private collections, and traces the main stages of this artistic movement. The exhibition includes works such as Cliffs of Dieppe (1834) by Delacroix, The Beach at Trouville (1865) by Courbet, Fécamp (1881) by Monet, Sunset, view of Guernesey (1893) by Renoir. The collection, created in 1992 on the initiative of the Basse-Normandie Regional Council and private partners, brings together famous artists (Monet, Corot, Courbet, Boudin, Marquet, Géricault, Jongkind), and other lesser-known authors (Noël, Lepic) who depicted the Normandy landscape from the mid-19^th century to the beginning of the 20^th century. In their canvases, the landscapes of Normandy take centre stage, depicting boundless skies, indistinct horizons and the distinctive beauty of the North Sea. The exhibition also documents how Normandy, thanks to the construction of the railway network in the 19^th century, became a meeting place for French and English artists, including Turner and Parkes, who passed on to their French colleagues their desire to capture the light and vibrancy of nature.

The exhibition, under the patronage of the Municipality of Florence, is produced by Arthemisia in collaboration with the Museo degli Innocenti, Cristoforo, and BridgeconsultingPro, and curated by Alain Tapié. It represents an immersive and educational journey into Impressionism, offering explanatory panels that delve into the technique and poetics of the artists, making the emotions and nuances of their paintings accessible even to younger visitors. The exhibition also features a section dedicated to in-depth studies and interactive tools for children, with a wide range of educational activities within the exhibition itself that complement the new schedule of the Bottega dei Ragazzi (Children’s Workshop), the educational section of the Innocenti Museum. Therefore “Impressionists in Normandy” is an unmissable opportunity for the whole family to rediscover, 150 years after its birth, the power and innovation of the Impressionist movement.