Impressions of Light: Masterpieces from MuMa – Le Havre and The Bowes Museum

A major international partnership with the Musée d’Art moderne André Malraux (MuMa), Le Havre, brings Impressionist masterpieces from France to The Bowes Museum in County Durham, with many works being shown in the UK for the first time.

Tracing the evolution of landscape painting from Pre-Impressionism to Post-Impressionism, Impressions of Light: Masterpieces from MuMa Le Havre and The Bowes Museum explores a period of extraordinary artistic change, when painters began to look at the world around them in new ways. Through light, colour and atmosphere, landscape became a space for experimentation, personal expression and new approaches to capturing the fleeting experience of a place.

Works by some of the most celebrated names in French art, including Claude Monet (1840–1926), Eugène Boudin (1824–1898), Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), Jean-Francis Auburtin (1866–1930) and Raoul Dufy (1877–1953), reveal the artistic innovation and emotional depth that helped transform modern art.

These significant loans from MuMa are displayed alongside The Bowes Museum’s pioneering collection of Pre-Impressionist works, creating a unique opportunity to trace the changing approaches to landscape painting across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Presented in themed groupings that echo the coast, cliffs, moorland and dales surrounding The Bowes Museum, the exhibition draws connections between the landscapes of France and County Durham. From shifting skies and changing light to dramatic coastlines and open countryside, discover how generations of artists responded to the places around them and transformed those experiences through paint.

From Le Havre to Barnard Castle

The exhibition also reveals a fascinating connection between The Bowes Museum and the French art world from which Impressionism emerged.

The museum’s founders, Joséphine (1825–1874) and John Bowes (1811–1885), were deeply connected to France and, unusually for British collectors at the time, acquired works by living French artists. Joséphine was herself a painter and was influenced by the en plein air approach of Pre-Impressionist artists, who increasingly left the studio to work directly from the landscape.

During the nineteenth century, Le Havre’s prosperity as an international port helped foster an extraordinary artistic culture. Its distinctive coastline, changing weather and remarkable quality of light attracted artists who would play an important role in the development of Impressionism.

Joséphine and John travelled frequently to Le Havre, and their connection to the city can even be seen in the architecture of The Bowes Museum itself, whose striking design was inspired by Le Havre’s town hall.

More than 150 years later, Impressions of Light brings these connections together once again, placing works collected by Joséphine and John alongside masterpieces travelling from Le Havre to Barnard Castle.

Bringing together world-class loans from MuMa and The Bowes Museum’s own collection, Impressions of Light is a journey through artistic vision, cultural exchange and landscape’s enduring power to move and inspire.

Presented by The Bowes Museum and MuMa – Musée d’Art moderne André Malraux, Le Havre.