To mark the centenary of Claude Monet's death (Paris, 1840 – Giverny, 1926), the MuMa presents a unique exploration of the painter's early life through the exhibition "Monet in Le Havre."
From his first sketchbooks to his maritime and port landscapes, the exhibition reveals how these thirty pivotal years, spent between Le Havre and Paris, shaped Monet's vision and technique.
Featuring nearly one hundred works and documents from prestigious public and private institutions, as well as from the collections of the artist's descendants, the exhibition offers a fresh perspective on the connection between the father of Impressionism and the city of Le Havre.
The MuMa exhibition offers a sensitive and in-depth exploration of Claude Monet's early years in Le Havre, from 1845 – when his family settled in the port city – to 1874, the date of the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris, which coincided with the execution of his last series of Le Havre seascapes. These three decades were marked by the awakening and affirmation of his vocation.
Born in 1840, the young Monet took his first artistic steps in Le Havre. He filled his sketchbooks with drawings made from life, playfully sketching the city's notables, learning landscape painting alongside Eugène Boudin and then Johan Barthold Jongkind, absorbing the lessons of the masters, and composing his first still lifes. Dividing his time between his childhood city and Paris, where he met the future Impressionists, Monet gradually honed his vision and asserted his ambition.
In Le Havre, he also encountered photographers, drawn by the picturesque subjects or the technical challenges offered by a rapidly changing maritime city. Their images formed a reservoir of motifs that permeate his work. From the wild landscapes of Pointe de la Hève in Sainte-Adresse, this "end of the world" prized by the people of Le Havre, to the regattas enlivening the harbor, and even to the heart of the great industrial port, the canvases painted in Normandy tell the story of the birth of a painter and a modern vision.
It was in Le Havre that Monet found his supporters. Within his own family, his brother Léon Monet encouraged him; among local collectors, the Gaudibert family acquired his first paintings. Later, the founders of the Cercle de l'Art Moderne—Olivier Senn, Pieter Van der Velde, and Charles-Auguste Marande—became regular buyers. Through his friends Eugène Boudin and Gustave Courbet, the young artist further expanded his circle of patrons and solidified his place on the art scene.
Based on previously unseen documents, the exhibition presents the artist's family background, life in Le Havre and its decisive influence, the young painter's sources of inspiration, the conditions of his training, his numerous caricatures, the sites he chose to depict, the evolution of his technique, and the essential role of his early collectors. A detailed chronology, maps of the region, and excerpts from correspondence—often presented for the first time—offer invaluable insight into the genesis of a body of work and the journey of an artist destined to transform the history of painting.
The MuMa exhibition is divided into 10 sections according to a thematic and chronological logic and includes around one hundred works including paintings, Monet's sketchbooks, archival documents and numerous family photographs.
The exhibition will shed new light on the Monet family, the Le Havre milieu with its notables caricatured by the young artist, and the many artistic influences:
1. Growing up in Le Havre 2. The first sketchbooks in 1856 and the first painting in 1858 3. Monet and still life 4. Caricatures, Le Havre-Paris 5. Monet and Boudin's pastel skies 6. Gustave Le Gray and photographers in Le Havre in 1856 7. Seascapes and harbor scenes 8. Patrons in Le Havre 9. Monet's donation to the City of Le Havre, 1910 10. Water Lilies #1 and #2 by Ai Weiwei, 2022. A contemporary garden.
AI WEIWEI, WATER LILIES #1 AND #2, 2022 A CONTEMPORARY GARDEN
In collaboration with the Normandy Impressionist Festival 2026, the MuMa presents, for the first time in France, two installations by the Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Monumental, each over fifteen meters long, these works, composed of 650,000 LEGO® bricks, reinterpret Claude Monet's Water Lilies . During his years in New York, Ai Weiwei spent considerable time contemplating this painting at MoMA, absorbing its luminous vibrations.
From this memory emerged a unique reinterpretation, where the industrial and mass-produced nature of the colored bricks replaces the Impressionist brushstrokes, without betraying their meditative spirit. But these Water Lilies are also a filial gesture. The works pay homage to his father, a poet trained in Paris, who studied there and was deeply influenced by Impressionism, before being silenced by the communist regime upon his return to China.
Presented at the MuMa, these two monumental works open and close the exhibition, engaging in dialogue with the 1904 Water Lilies painting, given by Monet to the City of Le Havre in 1910. They also mark Ai Weiwei's first visit to Normandy, following in Monet's footsteps, inscribing this confrontation between East and West, past and present, in the very land that gave birth to Impressionism.
Vincent van Gogh is famous today for two reasons. Firstly, his unstoppable creativity. He produced 2,100 artworks in just over a decade. And, secondly, his struggles with his mental health. The famous ear incident was the catalyst for admitting himself into the Saint-Remy Asylum, where he stayed for a year. While there, Van Gogh occupied his time by copying the works of his favorite artists; among them Eugene Delacroix and Francois Millet. Van Gogh made also other copies during the time he spent in Arles and Paris.
The Good Samaritan after Eugène Delacroix
Vincent van Gogh, The Good Samaritan (after Delacroix), 1890, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands. Eugene Delacroix, The Good Samaritan, 1849, 37 x 30 cm, private collection. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Originally by Eugène Delacroix (1832–1883), Van Gogh made his copy of The Good Samaritan in May 1890. The painting is mirrored, meaning that the right is left and the left is right, this is probably because it was copied from a print. Van Gogh freshens up the Romantic painting with his characteristic brushwork making small and energetic strokes.
The colors chosen also differ from the original, instead of the warm browns and reds of Delacroix, the Dutch artist uses more somber ochres and blues. The inspiration for this painting comes from the Bible. The passage describes an injured man lying at the side of a road. Two men pass him by but do not stop to help. Another man approaches, and this time stops to help him, a man from Samaria, hence the “Good Samaritan.” Van Gogh also made a copy of Delacroix’s Pieta.
Prisoners Exercising after Gustave Doré
Vincent van Gogh, Prisoners exercising (after Dore),1890, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia. Gustave Doré, Newgate exercise yard from London: A Pilgrimage by Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold – 1872. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Here, a group of prisoners are walking in circles in the courtyard, getting some exercise. On the right-hand side, the guards are keeping an eye on them. Most of the inmates seem preoccupied with their own musings – except for one – the artist himself, who raises his head and looks directly at the viewer. His red hair, adds a splash of color, to the otherwise cold tones of the painting.
Van Gogh made this copy after studying an engraving by Gustave Doré (1832–1883). It is of Newgate Prison in February 1890. The blues and greens of the painting convey the depressive mood of the prisoners. And the high prison walls, which completely hide the horizon, make for an especially claustrophobic piece of art.
Noon Rest from Work after Jean-François Millet
Vincent van Gogh, Noon Rest from Work (after Millet), 1889-1890, Musee d Orsay, Paris, France. Jean-François Millet, Noon rest, 1866, pastel and black conté crayon on buff wove paper, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
Van Gogh particularly admired the work of Realist painter Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) and copied several of his paintings. He felt that the French artist was a kindred spirit as he too wanted to depict the true life of peasants. In Noon Rest from Work, Van Gogh transforms Millet’s pastel artwork. By using his trademark brushwork and contrasting the blue-violet tones of the peasants’ clothes against the yellow-orange of the hay, he provides a new perspective to the work.
The Sower after Jean-François Millet
Vincent van Gogh, The Sower (after Millet), 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands. Jean-François Millet, The Sower, 1850, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.
Another painting by Millet. Van Gogh was almost obsessed with this work and made several copies. At first, he made exact copies. But while in Arles in June 1888, he decided to insert the figure of the sower into one of his own creations. This version is purely Van Gogh. He moves away from the grays and browns of the original work and instead uses vibrant yellows and violets. The sun, the everlasting source of life, takes center stage on the canvas.
At the back of the canvas, we can see fully grown crops, a reference to the cycle of life. A few months later, in November 1888, Van Gogh painted another sower, but this time he didn’t make a copy of Millet’s work but instead used it as inspiration.
Another artist that made it into Van Gogh’s all-time pantheon of artists was Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). In May 1890, while at Saint-Remy, he made a copy after the Dutch master’s The Raising of Lazarus. This is not an exact replica of the original work. Interestingly, Van Gogh decides to leave out the central figure of Jesus in his version.
The main theme of this work is human suffering, with a focus on Lazarus and his sisters. Lazarus here is portrayed with a red beard, perhaps, making a reference to Van Gogh’s own suffering. The models for the two women were Madame Roulin and Madame Ginoux, acquaintances from his time in Arles. Van Gogh also changed the setting of the painting, placing one of his wheat fields in the background.
‘’All my work is based to some extent on Japanese art’’ wrote Vincent to his brother Theo on the 15th of July 1888. The artist discovered Japanese prints during his time in Paris and the impact on his work was tremendous. He admired the minimalistic compositions, the bright colors, the lack of linear perspective and the new and unusual points of view. Of all the artworks Van Gogh copied, it was his study of Japanese prints that influenced him the most. He integrated all of the elements mentioned above and blended them with Western ideas of art to create his own unique style.
Van Gogh copied several prints like the Evening Shower at Atake and the Great Bridge or the Plum Park in Kameido by Hiroshige, often combining elements from different prints in order to make them appear more exotic.
Van Gogh Copies
In examining the works that Van Gogh chose to copy, we can see a true artist at work. His versions of the works retain his artistic voice and are not overwhelmed by the originals. Notably, the works he copied whilst in Paris or Arles, like The Sower, are of a more optimistic nature. Whilst those produced in Saint-Remy predominantly focus on the theme of human suffering, underlining his depressive mood and mental struggles during his stay at the hospital.
