Normandie Impressionniste Festival begins 1st June 2010.

Inside Rouen Cathedral The major cultural event of the summer here in Normandy promises to be The Impressionist Normandy Festival which begins 1st June 2010, continuing throughout the summer until September 2010.
Horse Drawn carriage in Rouen.
The Festival's website is rightly very proud of the event:
Initiated under Laurent Fabius and numerous governmental authorities, including the Regional governments of Upper and Lower Normandy, the counties of Seine-Maritime and Eure, the Cities of Rouen and Caen, with the support of major businesses, this multidisciplinary celebration is on an unprecedented scale for France. For the public, it will be the perfect opportunity to discover exceptional cultural heritage and all the creative talent of Normandy, homeland of the Impressionist movement.La Dame au Balcon. Henri Ottmann.
One of the special exhibitions is to be held in the Fine Arts Museum in Rouen.

It is entitled "A City for Impressionism" and will include paintings by Monet, Pissarro and Gauguin, many of which will be on show to the public for the first time.

The streets in Rouen's historic district are lined with ancient half timbered buildings, and here you will find many excellent small cafes and restaurants.

Click here to read my Monet's Garden at Giverney post

Champ de Coquelicots, Environs de Giverny. Claude Monet.

Nearer to home, I'll be able to visit the Corot exhibition at the Saint-Lô Fine Arts Museum and the Millet exhibition at the Thomas Henry Museum in Cherbourg.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to visit Rouen once again to see the light shows and illuminations at the Cathedral.
Rouen Cathedral by Claude Monet.

More from the Festival website:
Impressionist Normandy encompasses the entire territory of two separate regions (Upper and Lower Normandy) and as such, is an unprecedented initiative in France. The event will take place simultaneously in dozens of cities, towns, and villages. The main Norman institutions, as well as numerous other public and private partners, will be associated with the festival. In addition to the desire to bring together an entire geographical area, the fact of multiple locations also illustrates the precedent established by the painters’ own penchant to wander through the countryside in search of new subjects to paint. Certain exhibitions will be sent to other countries and thus will act as "ambassadors” for Normandy. As an unofficial & unpaid ambassador of Normandy I'm very happy to be able to promote our adopted region of France in with my blog.

If you are planning on visiting France this summer do try and see one of the amazing exhibitions going on throughout the region, and let me know if you'd like some company!

I'm linking this post to Frenchy's wonderful, 1st June French Obsession meme

@Le Château des Fleurs.

I have been lucky enough to have visited the Fine Arts Museum twice now and these photographs were taken during one of my visits.