Previous Editions

Looking back over the previous editions

Normandie Impressionniste was founded thanks to the encouragement of Laurent Fabius, then the President of the Communauté d’Agglomération Rouen Elbeuf Austreberthe (CREA), and of numerous Normand communities, with the support of some major companies and, over the course of its editions (2010, 2013, 2016, 2020) it has become one of France’s chief artistic events.

2010, a highly promising first edition!

The first edition of Normandie Impressionniste, which took place in 2010, set out the guidelines for this event. Normandie Impressionniste’s vitality then grew thanks to the entirety of the territory’s stakeholders, creating a very rich artistic, associative, educational and institutional network, based on the desire to reveal the exceptional heritage and artistic creation of Impressionism in Normandy down to our times. Under the general curatorship of Jacques-Sylvain Klein, this edition was above all marked by an exceptional attendance at the flagship exhibition Une ville pour l’Impressionnisme at the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Rouen, with over 200,000 visitors. This initial edition was also talked of thanks to its opening event Monet Seen from the Sky, consisting in a gigantic reconstitution of Monet’s painting by 1,250 volunteers.

2013, a daring second edition

In 2013, Normandie Impressionniste reaffirmed its status as a major artistic event by broadening its outreach to the entirety of the territory of Normandy and by building public loyalty. For this second phase, Jérôme Clément was responsible for the general curatorship around the theme of “water”. This subject brought together all the players on the Normand territory who vied with each another in their creativity by proposing original cultural and festive events. This second edition was also clearly turned towards young people, with around 1,000 classes, from primary to high school, which took part in the various projects. After the success of the first edition, there were many expectations for this second outing, but it was also a success with a considerable rise in the attendance at its equally more numerous projects.

2016, a third, federating edition in a reunified Normandy

In the context of a reunified Normandy, the third edition was a federating event. In 2016, still under the general curatorship of Jérôme Clément, Normandie Impressionniste chose to direct its programming towards the theme of “Impressionist portraits”. This humanistic topic provided the opportunity to conduct a collective action across the territory, where visitors were able to discover another side of Impressionism and reread its history in the light of today. Normandie Impressionniste allowed the entirety of Normandy to reach out by putting on high-quality events attracting an ever-more diverse public, which ranged even more across the whole territory, in particular thanks to the development of the festival card. Jérôme Clément, the General Commissioner, emphasised the fact that this third edition created the conditions for the long-term establishment of the festival, after the successes of 2010 and 2013.

2020, a successful fourth edition, despite the health crisis

For its fourth edition in 2020, Normandie Impressionniste celebrated its tenth anniversary by reinventing itself, thanks to a new formula conceived by its General Commissioner Philippe Piguet. As a result, the 2020 edition no longer proposed a single theme for the entirety of the events, but instead a plural guiding theme which was rich and open to interpretations: a new day, a new colour. This multidisciplinary edition paid homage to creation in all its forms and presented a large number of artistic propositions across all of Normandy: impressionist exhibitions, contemporary art, photography, live shows, music and talks. The festival had to confront the Covid-19 crisis and the first lockdown, yet it was held nevertheless and despite everything came in for considerable success.