Normandie Impressionniste in Eure — Giverny, Vernon and Seine Valley

The biggest art festival in Normandy

Created in 2010, Normandie Impressionniste is the flagship cultural festival of the Normandy region, celebrating the heritage of the Impressionist movement — born on the banks of the Seine, in the ports of Le Havre and Honfleur, in the gardens of Giverny — while confronting it with contemporary creation. Organized every three to four years, it unfolds for six months (from March to September) throughout Normandy, from Rouen to Caen, from Le Havre to Giverny, from Dieppe to Cherbourg.

In the department of Eure, the festival finds a natural anchor in Giverny, the village where Claude Monet lived and painted for forty-three years, and in Vernon, the gateway to the Impressionist country. The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, the Fondation Claude Monet, and Vernon's cultural spaces host major exhibitions at each edition.

Five editions, global reach

Since its first edition in 2010, Normandie Impressionniste has continuously grown in ambition and attendance. The editions of 2010, 2013, 2016, 2020 (postponed), and 2024 have each offered an increasingly rich program, growing from a few dozen events to over 150 events during the fifth edition in 2024, which attracted two million visits.

The 2024 edition, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Impressionist movement, featured around twenty Impressionist exhibitions, thirty contemporary art and photography exhibitions, as well as a multitude of multidisciplinary events. In Eure, the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny presented the exhibition “Impressionism and the Sea,” while Vernon hosted Sarah Jérôme's exhibition “Loin du Bruit” at the Pavillon des Jouets.

2026: an edition dedicated to contemporary art

The sixth edition of Normandie Impressionniste, scheduled from March 20 to September 20, 2026, makes the bold choice to present only contemporary art, setting aside the Impressionist canvases of the 19th century to better question their heritage through the eyes of living artists. The festival will unfold in Rouen, Giverny, Caen, Le Havre, Dieppe, and many towns in Normandy, including several in Eure.

This radical choice confirms the vocation of Normandie Impressionniste: not to museumify Impressionism, but to explore its living posterity, showing how the light, color, landscape, and emotion that founded this movement continue to irrigate contemporary artistic creation. For the Eure department, the birthplace of Monet-esque Impressionism, each edition represents a formidable lever for cultural and tourist influence.