Making a Lasting Impression

Jardin à Sainte-Adresse by Claude Monet

Summer 1867. Looking out at the English Channel.

First published Aug 1, 2024

The year 2024 is the 150th anniversary of impressionism. In recognition of this landmark, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris is exhibiting 130 works entitled Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment. Simultaneously, another 178 impressionist works are circulating through other French museums. The 150th anniversary of impressionism is dated from the first exhibit of 30 paintings organized by the Paris Salon, an annual academic showcase of art, in 1874. That exhibit included a painting by Claude Monet (1840-1926), which is considered the first of this school and the one that gave the school its name, “impressionism”. Monet awoke in mid-November 1872 in the port city of Le Havre, which sits on the north bank of the Seine estuary as it opens into the English Channel. He looked out his window facing east and quickly painted the Le Havre harbor choked with sailing vessels with the sun still low on the horizon in what was to symbolize the characteristic brush strokes and coloration of the school. [A professor of astronomy has dated the painting to November 13, 1872 at 7:35 A.M., based on solar positioning.] Monet titled the painting “Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise)”. At the 1874 exhibition, the painting was among those shown. The art critic, Louis Leroy, who derided the exhibit, singled out Monet’s work and mockingly wrote in his review; “An impression, I am sure. I thought to myself, this has made an impression on me so there must be impressions somewhere in there.” The artistic form, henceforth, was referred to as “impressionism” after Monet’s title, reemphasized by Leroy’s commentary.

The port of Le Havre, Monet’s childhood home, was critical to French commerce, especially the economy of Paris; it was connected directly to that city by the Seine River. The city was established in 1517 as a new port by royal command of François I, in part, to substitute for harbors of Harfleur and Honfleur, which had been silting-up, making them difficult to navigate. Honfleur is a picturesque fishing village on the south bank of the Seine estuary and a tourist attraction as well as a town near to the elegant summer homes in that area of Normandy. By the early months of 1945, allied bombing had destroyed 80 percent of Le Havre. The occupying Germans had planned to use it as a staging area for a potential invasion of England, among other wartime uses. Areas of the city looked like Hiroshima after the atomic bomb detonation. For 20 years, after the end of World War II, with the aid of numerous architects, the port city was rebuilt. Le Havre is now capitalizing on its location on the Normandy coast and the fact that Monet began the impressionist movement there in 1872, as an attraction to tourists.

Monet, however, moved to Giverny, where he lived for forty-three years from 1883 to 1926. He altered the structure of the house to his own tastes, adapting it to the needs of his family, including eight children, and professional life, adding striking colors to its interior and exterior and enlarging it to 135 feet long. The adjacent barn to which he added a wood floor was his first studio. Stairs lead to the main house. Monet, who mostly painted in the open air, needed a facility to finish and store his canvases. (Two thousand painting, as well as hundreds of other works, in his lifetime.) Above the studio, Monet had his own apartment, a large bedroom and a bathroom. Giverny is principally associated with Monet and is a notable attraction to visitors to France. Le Havre, nevertheless, has competitive charms, which it is heralding. It was Monet’s first home and near his aunt’s home in Sainte-Adresse to which he, later, moved as a teenager after his mother’s death. This house is empty and, thus, could be converted to a Monet museum. That is where Monet painted the Garden at Sainte-Adresse. A biking and pedestrian path connects Sainte-Adresse to Le Havre, two miles southwest. Le Havre’s Musée d’Art Moderne André Malraux (nickname Mu Ma) holds the next most impressive exhibit of impressionist paintings after the Musée d’Orsay. Areas of the waterfront and city have been converted to unusual tourist attractions. It is gaining traction as a site for visitors as it reemphasizes its foundational place in impressionism.

“Impression Sunrise” by Claude Monet

November 1872. Le Havre harbor