Return to Saint Simeon

"As for me, I am still in Saint-Siméon, we are so happy there, I work a lot there": what better reason than these words from Claude Monet to Frédéric Bazille, in August 1864, to explain the participation of this famous place of painting, Honfleur, in the centenary of the artist's death?

The place, moreover, sometimes nicknamed the "Norman Barbizon" or the "Little Montmartre", not only welcomed the leader of Impressionism in his early years but also, among others, Camille Corot, Narcisse Diaz, Charles-François and Karl Daubigny, Constant Troyon, Gustave Courbet, Johan-Barthold Jongkind, Frédéric Bazille, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, André Gill or, of course, Eugène Boudin, Alexandre Dubourg and Alphonse Allais, the local children…

The prestigious hotel which today watches over this history, located a stone's throw from the Eugène Boudin Museum, which also bears witness to this glorious era, has therefore chosen to punctuate this year of celebration by the organization of a cycle of monthly conferences devoted to Claude Monet: Normandy in his work as much as in his life (Le Havre, Honfleur, Giverny…), his entourage or even particular themes in his work.