Welcome to the French city of Le Havre, birthplace of Monet and impressionism, writes Elaine Sciolino As the fog of dawn lifted one morning in mid-November 1872, Claude Monet looked out of the window of his hotel room in the French city of Le Havre and furiously painted his vision of its industrial harbour. He flung his brush with quick strokes and played with the water, stretching it with rays of colour. In one sitting, he created Impression, Sunrise , a painting of a vivid orange sun with its reflection shimmering in the sea.
In 1874, Monet , who grew up in Le Havre, on the Normandy coast, included the painting in an exhibition of 30 artists’ work organised in response to the Paris Salon, an annual showcase of academic art. Critic Louis Leroy denounced “The Exhibition of the Impressionists” and mocked the title of Monet’s painting. “An impression, I’m sure,” he wrote.
“I thought to myself, this has made an impression on me so there must be impressions somewhere in there.” Impressionism was born. READ MORE: Normandy, France: Visiting Le Havre and Honfleur This year, France is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the movement.
In Paris , the Musee d’Orsay is exhibiting 130 works from and related to the 1874 exhibition and offering a one-hour immersive tour with virtual reality headsets. It is sending 178 other works to more than 30 museums throughout France . The Musee Marmottan, which owns Impression, Sunrise , has agreed to lend it to the Orsay until Jul.
