Le Havre, France, was the site in 1874 of an exhibition by artist Claude Monet and others that spawned the term “Impressionists.” (iStock)
A book, a film, a photo — diehard travel lovers need not look far for inspiration for their next trip. So too can an artist’s brush be enough to set one off on a path of discovery. Once having viewed the work of a newly-discovered or firm favorite painter on the walls of a museum, follow it up by seeking out the landscape or city view that inspired the creation.
Venice, Italy, with Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, popularly known as Canaletto, was an Italian painter of city views of Venice, Rome, London and other real and imagined places. Unlike other early 18th-century artists, he painted many of his works outdoors, rather than in a studio. His paintings, notable for their accuracy and attention to detail, were favorites amongst Englishmen making their way through Europe in a rite of passage known as the Grand Tour. When the number of such travelers waned due to the outbreak of war nearby, Canaletto moved to England, where he remained between 1746 and 1756.
Those in Venice can visit the museum Ca’ Rezzonico, where two masterpieces of his early years are on view: The Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi to Rialto and Rio dei Mendicanti. The city’s Palazzo della Collezione Cini and the Accademia Gallery also house some of his works. In London’s National Gallery, six of Canaletto’s paintings can be seen, including those titled A Regatta on the Grand Canal and The Basin of San Marco on Ascension Day. Both paintings depict events that continue to be staged to date. Online: tinyurl.com/yx7xppun
Along the Rhine with William Turner: First in 1817 and many times thereafter, the British landscape painter William Turner made his way by foot along the Rhine River, sketchbook in hand. Upon return to his London studio, his rough drawings would serve as the basis for his paintings. Considered one of the foremost Romantic painters, his works stand out for their interplay of shadow and light, atmospheric effects and choice of perspective.
Today, the Tate Britain in London is home to the largest collection of Turner’s works, with nine rooms featuring his sketches and paintings. Thanks to a project led by the artist-historian Armin Thommes, Turner’s paintings can also be viewed within the context on their inspiration by means of a touristic route along the Rhine River between Bingen and Koblenz, Germany. The William Turner Route features 26 spots marked by bronze plates describing the paintings and locations, along with QR codes for pulling up additional information. Online: turner-route.de/en
Le Havre, France, with Claude Monet: In the spring of 1874, some 30 artists including Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne and Edgar Degas exhibited their paintings together as a response to being shunned by the Paris Salon, the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. One of the paintings exhibited, Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet, was poorly received by visitors and critics alike. An article panning the exhibition used the title of Monet’s depiction of a misty harbor at dawn to label this collective of artists as Impressionists, a derisive term they instead chose to embrace.
The painting Impression, Sunrise is nowadays at home at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris (although it is currently on loan at National Gallery of Washington until Jan. 19, 2025). The spot from which Monet painted this picture in 1872 is located in Le Havre, France. The artist rendered the painting in a single setting from his room in the no-longer-standing Hôtel de l’Amirauté on the Grand Quai, now known as the Quai de Southampton.
Le Havre, situated at the mouth of the Seine River, was a frequent subject of not just Monet but other Impressionists as well. A walking tour of the town passes by panels placing the works and the sites where they were painted into perspective, and a three-mile biking and hiking trail along the waterfront connecting the nearby village of Sainte-Adresse reveals additional landmarks favored by the impressionists. Online: tinyurl.com/7b4vavr4
Coulliere, France, with the Fauvists: Fauvism, an art movement and style of painting led by Henri Matisse and André Derain, first emerged around 1904. The style, whose name means wild beasts in French, is simplified or abstract and characterized by wild brush work and the use of bold, pure colors.
In 1905, Matisse soujourned in Coulliere, a small fishing village along southern France’s Catalan coast, where he was joined by Derain. So taken were the artists by the brilliance of the sky and the kaleidoscope of colors presented by the Mediterranean that they produced more than 100 paintings, watercolors and sketches between them. Although these paintings caused an uproar at an exhibition in Paris the following year, art collectors were eager to purchase them, and today, many of these works can be viewed in some of the world’s leading art museums.
Back in the village where it all began, tourists can take experience the views that so inspired these artists by following the Fauvism Trail, a short but scenic walk lined with reproductions of Matisse and Derain’s best-known paintings, or learn more about the artists and movement through a visit to the Vitrine sur le Fauvisme, a shop and learning center adjacent to the tourist office that’s open from March through October. Online: tinyurl.com/ytncekat
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Publish date : 2024-11-28 16:00:00
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