A French tour of Impressionist landscapes
What could be more inspiring for a budding artist than a trip around France visiting the landscapes that sculpted the great artistic movement that is Impressionism?
Anita is an art student from Amsterdam who has been learning French for 5 years and adores Monet’s Impression, Sunrise. She wanted to continue her studies in France and get her first taste of life as an art restorer.
She shares her travel diary about the highlights of her language stay in France visiting Impressionist landscapes with her study group.
Anita spent 10 days soaking up France and French as she visited Paris, Normandy and Provence with artistic experiences and trips to the colourful scenery that inspired the incredible 19th century artists.
Travel diary in France, visiting the Impressionist landscapes
I have devoted this pretty notebook – illustrated with my own sketches – to the highlights of my first trip to France with my fellow students who are just as passionate about art as I am. We spent 10 days exploring the landscapes that inspired the great Impressionists: Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Pissarro and more. Every stage of the journey from Paris and Normandy to Provence gave us the chance to practise our French, visit landmark museums, paint outdoors and juxtapose the real landscapes with the artworks they inspired.
In and around Paris: Museums, streets and my first impressions
Musée d’Orsay: A feast of Impressionist masterpieces
I met up with my group of 15 Dutch students to visit the Musée D’Orsay on our first morning in Paris. We couldn’t wait to get started. Although we really wanted to improve our French skills, we REALLY wanted to see the landscapes and masterpieces that made Impressionnism so iconic.
The Musée d’Orsay is overwhelming in every sense, including how many visitors there are! The former train station, with its huge clocks and bright windows, is home to the epic artworks that I’ve always dreamt of seeing up close. I spent ages pouring over Saint-Lazare Station by Monet. I’ve been gazing at it in books for years, so it was a real moment for me.
The French class in the gallery devoted to Monet and Renoir taught us to express our aesthetic emotions, learn and describe the Impressionist techniques in French. It was very rewarding, so hat’s off to our guide!
Walk in Montmartre: Boho vibes and a cultural scavenger hunt
We went to Montmartre in the afternoon! As we climbed the steps to Place du Tertre, I was struck by the boho vibes I’d always hoped to experience here: easels, portraits, cobbled lanes. To use the French expression we learned, it’s an image d’Epinal (a bit of a cliché) but it has its own charm! Valérie designed a scavenger hunt for us. It was full of challenges and forfeits so we could interact with local traders and find out more about life as a 19th century artist. Go hard or go home! I even had to ask a passerby to draw my portrait in 1 minute without taking the pencil off the paper! The result was a bit…. disappointing…
Barbizon and the Forest of Fontainebleau: an introduction to “sur le motif” painting
We took the bus from Paris to see where it all began for Impressionism: Barbizon, the so-called “Village of Painters”. Early 19th century artists would meet up here to paint landscapes “sur le motif” or in situ. We passed the famous Auberge Ganne, an inn and grocery shop which became the Villa des Artistes and Hôtel de l’Exposition, a meeting point of artists, sculptors (from France and abroad), writers, journalists, actors and even politicians.
It’s hard to resist painting the dreamy village with its little houses, cobbled streets and art galleries everywhere you look.
We did a “sur le motif” art class in the Forest of Fontainebleau near Barbizon. I love painting outdoors (luckily the weather was good). It was a great experience among my fellow students: it was like when the artists would get together at Auberge Ganne!
Normandy: the source of Impressionism
Giverny: A day in the life of Claude Monet
We finally reached Normandy and, as Monet said: “A landscape doesn’t get under your skin in one day…” So we spent 2 days here!
The countryside, the changing skies, the endless greenery… anything goes when it comes to Impressionist painting subjects. I spent ages wandering around the gardens at Claude Monet’s house in Giverny: the Japanese bridge, water lilies, flowers and more. My group made the most of the peace and quiet (there weren’t many tourists that day) for an art class on the edge of the biggest pond on the theme of: what does water inspire in you? I managed to explain the idea behind my piece using my slightly broken French.
Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh’s final days
The atmosphere couldn’t have been more different in Auvers-sur-Oise. It was darker and more intense. We visited Auberge Ravoux where Van Gogh spent the end of his life and manically painted nearly 80 paintings. His tiny, dark room was heartbreaking to see! We joined our guide on the signposted trail and spotted many of the places he’d painted: Auvers Church, the wheat fields, crows and footpaths before visiting his tomb, next to his brother Théo. We also tried to decipher the letters between the two brothers which were particularly poignant, especially towards the end of the artist’s life.
Étretat and Honfleur: Cliffs and peaceful ports
Another change of scenery: we visited the Normandy coast and lofty Étretat cliffs. Armed with our sketchbooks, we had a long walk on the coastal path drinking in the views and stopping to sketch them.
I visited the Eugène Boudin Museum in Honfleur. I’d never heard of him before, but I loved his paintings of the sea! The beaches in Trouville, the ports in Deauville and Honfleur… I like the technique used by the Impressionist pioneer who was one of the first to paint outside his studio.
Provence: Light, warmth and new inspirations
Aix-en-Provence: Cézanne and Montagne Sainte-Victoire
We cut across France to the South, with its sing-song accent and fragrant aromas of lavender and pine trees. The train makes for a very convenient journey! We stopped in Aix-en-Provence: what a place!
The guided tour of Cézanne’s studio blew me away because it’s like he never left: His belongings are still there, it’s very realistic: a skull, bottle, chair etc.
From the terrace you can see the artist’s beloved Montagne Sainte-Victoire: he did over 80 paintings of it! The following day, we hit the iconic mountain’s footpaths on a hike which gave us a good dose of Provençal fresh air and enabled us to drink in the scenery, drystone walls and scrubland.
Arles and Saint-Rémy
We were reunited with Van Gogh! We went on a themed tour through Arles: Café de la Nuit, Arles Hospital, the Van Gogh Foundation and more. After he left Paris, this is where Van Gogh found a new light and painted some of his best-known pieces: The Sunflowers, Starry Night over the Rhône and Langlois Bridge.
It was very moving to visit Saint-Paul-de-Mausole Monastery in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, the former asylum where Van Gogh was confined. This is where he painted The Starry Night in which you can spot the olive trees and wheat fields. We made the most of the landscape for one last outdoor art class to reproduce Van Gogh’s techniques: brushstrokes, colours, textures and more that were too hard for me! My friends were far better!
Nice: The blue of painters and the Mediterranean
The last stop on our French trip was Nice! We met up for breakfast by the flower market then spent the morning walking along the sun-soaked Promenade des Anglais looking out onto the Mediterranean. What a life!
I’ll never forget the guided tour of the Matisse Museum in a beautiful ochre villa: his gouache paintings and cut-outs were fascinating and the stained-glass Tree of Life he created for Vence Chapel was unbelievably bright. It was very inspiring… far more than Chagall in my view. It’s another world!
Anita went back to Amsterdam with a book full of drawings, sketches and gouache paintings and a head full improved French skills and more confidence in speaking.
The themed tour introduced the group to places in France made famous by the Impressionists and enabled them to soak up French culture through art and geography. The tours, experiences and activities gave the French students confidence when speaking and a broader range of useful vocabulary for their studies and career plans. Anita may well be back in France soon for an art restoration course!
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