Summer at the seaside, leisure activities and impressionism

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen

The prodigious boom in holiday resorts and outdoor leisure activities was one of the great changes of the 19th century and it had an undeniable impact on the history of art. A whole section of society gaily boarded the train and set off to conquer new territories: the coast, the beach, the sea… Normandy, but many other regions too, played a key role in this new craze.

For the first time, artists left the city and shifted their studios to the country, an important sign of what was to come. The Impressionists no longer looked for subjects in books or their own imaginations, but focused on real life in these newly conquered territories, the many holiday resorts and leisure places that mushroomed along the water’s edge.

Open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m

Closed on 1st and 9th May

€ 9, concession € 6