The first half of this trip is a sightseeing tour of Normandy, of which there are two main objectives. The first one is a trip to the battlefield where the Normandy landings were made, and the other one is the « Impressionist Festival of Normandy » which I will introduce this time.
What is the Impressionist Festival of Normandy?
The « Festival normandie impressionniste » is a series of Impressionist-themed art events held for about five months from April 16 to September 26 in the Normandy region in northwestern France. in the Normandy region of northwestern France.
This festival was held for the third time this year, so it seems to be a relatively new event. I found out about this event when I was planning my trip to France and searching the internet for places to visit in Normandy in the first half of the trip.
During the event, a total of 145 exhibitions will be held within the Normandy region, bringing the total number of events to 450.
In addition to Normandy, there were also related events in Paris and, quite far away, in a small town called Ornans in the Jura. I will write more about why I went to this village in Jura in the second half of this travelogue series.
List of events I visited this time
No matter how many cars you have, there are only so many events you can visit in a stay of at most three days. Still, I was able to visit the following venues.
Since Normandy has produced many Impressionist painters and the school of Impressionism has flourished here, some museums, such as the Musée André Malraux in Le Havre and the Musée Boudin in Honfleur, have many Impressionist (or related) paintings in their collections. In some cases, major works are borrowed from the Musee d’Orsay in Paris and the Texas Museum of Art in the United States for the festival.
The quality of the events is also very good, and the exhibition of famous paintings is as authentic as France itself.
However, it may not be well known yet. There were a few tourists here and there, but there were not so many because Normandy is basically a countryside. If it is a day trip from Paris to Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy will be passed by.
However, it is an event where you can enjoy a very rich collection that you should not miss if you are a fan of Impressionism, and I believe that it will become more famous in the future.
Buy a Festival Card and get a discount!
At the main venues of the festival, you can buy a Festival Card (La Carte du Festival), which includes the following
This card can be purchased at each venue. If you buy this card once and present it at the time of ticket purchase, you will receive a discount on admission to all events and exhibitions related to the festival.
I didn’t use it, but you can get 10% discount at chain hotels such as Mercure and Novotel, and you can also get discount on transportation such as train and bus within Normandy or national railway (SNCF).
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