The Lure of the Sea: A Journey from Paris to Normandy
13 - 28 June 2012
Tour Highlights
This tour, led by art historian Kenneth W. Park, explores the relationship between Paris and the provinces through the vital urban and picturesque rural cultures that interacted in the works of great artists, novelists, musicians and architects.
- Highlights of the tour include
- • In Paris, stay in 'studio' rooms in the heart of the Latin Quarter, on the banks of the Seine opposite the Pont-Neuf, and just a short stroll from Boulevard St-Michel and the Notre-Dame Cathedral
- • Explore the 19th century bohemian districts of New Athens and Montmartre in Paris where so many masters worked and played
- • Visit the villages on the outskirts of Paris and along the Seine Valley, such as Chatou, Auvers-sur-Oise & Pontoise, made famous by artists who lived and painted there
- • Discover some of the best art collections in the world at the Gare d'Orsay and Marmottan museums in Paris, the Musée André Malraux in Le Havre, and the Fine Arts Museums of Rouen
- • Explore the exceptional natural and cultural landscapes of Normandy: well preserved half-timbered villages and manor houses, costal towns and fishing villages bordered by windswept cliffs, and masterpieces such as the Bayeux Tapestry, Mont Saint-Michel and the Gothic cathedrals of Notre Dame in Rouen and St-Étienne in Caen
- • Discover how Normandy's rich soil, sufficient rainfall and ample sun have allowed French gardeners to create some of the best gardens in France, such as the Bois des Moutiers and Château de Brécy
- • At a reception at the Château de Canisy (Normandy) retired British Major General Graham Hollands will talk on D-Day and the battle for Normandy. We shall take a full day guided tour of the D-day landing beaches
- • Sample the best of France's gastronomy with a dinner at the famous Belle Époque restaurant Le Train Bleu in Paris, visits to traditional farmer markets, a "guinguette" lunch on the Seine, and cider and cakes at the splendid Château de Brécy
Overnights Paris (4 nights) • Rouen (6 nights) • Bayeux (4 nights) • St Malo (1 night)
Visits include: Paris (Musée de l'Orangerie, Opéra Garnier, New Athens & Montmartre districts, Restaurant 'Le Train Bleu', Musée Marmottan, Hemingway's Paris Walk, Musée d'Orsay) • Village of Louveciennes • Musée Maurice Denis (Saint-Germain-en-Laye) • Chatou Island (La Fournaise Inn, Association Sequana & Impressionist Cruise on the Seine) • Auvers-sur-Oise (Musée Van Gogh - Auberge Ravoux, Studio Daubigny) • Pontoise (Hermitage District) • Buchy Village Market • Villages of Ry and Lyons-la-Forêt • Manoir de Villers (St-Pierre Manneville) • Rouen (Cathedral, Musée des Beaux-Arts) • Etretat • Le Havre (Musée André Malraux) • Giverny (Fondation Claude Monet) • Varengeville-sur-Mer (Le Bois des Moutiers, Sailor's Church & Cemetery) • Dieppe (Château-Musée) • Honfleur (Musée Eugène Boudin) • Pays d'Auge (Manoir des Evêques, Calvados farm) • Château de Brécy • Caen (Fine Arts Museum, Abbatial Saint Etienne) • Bayeux (Old Town, Tapestry) • Evening Reception at the Château de Canisy with a talk by retired British Major General Graham Hollands • D-Day landings tour • Mont Saint-Michel • Dinan • Walls of Saint-Malo
About the Tour
19th century Paris was acknowledged as the world's leader in art, music, literature and political thought. Since the 1789 Revolution, the bourgeoisie had dominated the city. Paris was a great forcing house of culture but also traumatised by regular political unrest and the fierce competition of capitalism. Parisians retreated to nearby villages and Normandy's coasts to recreate themselves and were painted there by artists like Boudin, Monet and Renoir. Meanwhile, France was becoming a unified nation in the image set for it by Paris. Local heritage and regional dialects were becoming subsumed by an imposed national language and imagery. Intellectuals' and artists' reaction was to search for 'deep France' – of lost local culture. At the same time French enthusiasts for the past gave birth to the idea of architectural conservation when they documented Medieval and Renaissance buildings destroyed during the Revolution. Normandy, close to Paris yet conserving a deep architectural heritage and many local traditions, played a key role in the characterisation of deep France.
This tour explores the genesis of modern French national identity through the eyes of the Impressionist and Post Impressionist painters, novelists and musicians, through the urbanism of Paris and through the cultural landscapes of Normandy. After exploring Paris' great 19th century art collections and its fascinating bohemian districts, we travel to villages made famous by artists on the city's outskirts. We also tour the Seine Valley, where Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne, Seurat and a host of others lived and painted. We explore the genesis of Impressionism in Normandy's coastal towns, and also the importance of this region for some of the world's greatest literature and music; writers like Flaubert and Proust, and musicians such as Satie, Debussy and Ravel, worked in Normandy. Flaubert's Madame Bovary was set in a Norman village and Proust wrote The Remembrance of Things Past in a Norman hotel. Both are considered among the world's finest literary works. We shall also encounter Normandy's fascinating heritage in local architecture, crafts and distinctive cuisine and produce.
Normandy has also, throughout history, been a frontier between France and England, from William's 1066 conquest to the D-Day landings in World War II. We shall study Normandy's frontier role when we explore highlights as diverse as the Bayeux Tapestry and Normandy's D-Day beaches and museums.
