Painting in Rouen with Monet:

 

Somehow I forgot to tell you about 

My trip last weekend.

The annual Urban Sketchers France 🇫🇷 picked Rouen this year,

And who can complain.

This Frenchman was Not from New Zealand 🇳🇿 but had a charming, tiny watercolor setup with a magnetic paintbox by art-toolkit.com.

Rouen, with all it’s pedestrian 👣 walkways is perfect place

For sketchers. I took note of some nice folding chairs 🪑 on display with comfortable backs,

Unlike my little folding stool…

Since it was broiling hot 🥵 out, 

I took refuge in my pleasantly air-conditioned hotel Adagio room,

With accompanying Handel’s Water 💧Music 🎵 

CATHEDRALE MAC CLOU, ROUEN

Absolutely verboten 👎 by the rules and bylaws of the Urban Sketchers. 

You must paint ✍️ outdoors 

Directly in front of the object of your obsession,

No matter the temperature or conditions 🌞 

BY J.M.W. TURNER,1832

‘Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds’. etc.

My loose copy of Turner’s watercolor to warmup to the subject. Cathédrales are not my usual cup of tea ☕️…

But it is Claude Monet, who perhaps put ROUEN on the map. The OIL PAINT is thickly encrusted, creating a textural effect. Monet complained how difficult it was to capture the same light ☀️ everyday between 7am to 5pm.  

Although Jeanne d’Arc was burnt at the stake in Rouen in 30, May, 1431.

Monet famously painted 30 versions of cathedrale de Notre Dame, 

The first of his series of painting subjects.

A BOOKLET FROM THE MUSÉE DES BEAUX-ARTS 

He came to Rouen on 4 different occasions, setting up a studio inside a lingerie shop (!) directly across from the Cathedral.

Some are in the musée d’Orsay in Paris and some in the musée des Beaux Arts of Rouen.

An attractive Rouenaise in a cool long, red skirt…

I had every intention of seeing Rouen’s Monets, but the heat got to me. 

A pistachio ice cream cone🍦won the day. Choices, choices…

Here’s central ROUEN so you can get the lay of the land. Our hotel Adagio X was by the Seine on the outer edge of town.

Le Vieux Marché, far left on the map

ON ETSY

Is where we had our fabulous lunch at La Couronne.

Coming home, we got 1st class seats 🚊 with AC 🥶 🙏 so worth it.

Paris seemed much cooler by the Seine…

❤️

Thanks for reading Parisbreakfast. 

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