The Renoir Walk
Art for Guernsey celebrated Renoir’s link to Guernsey with a narrated art walk in the Moulin Huet valley, now a permanent fixture for islanders and visitors to enjoy.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) has a special significance for Guernsey as the famous Impressionist spent just over a month on the island in 1883 and worked on 15 paintings during his stay, all depicting views of Moulin Huet. As 2019 marked the centenary of Renoir’s death, Art for Guernsey celebrated his importance to our island by putting together the Renoir Walk, combining its opening with a unique exhibition and exclusive events. The exhibition, held in the old Moulin Huet pottery, featured a rare and precious drawing by Renoir himself, kindly lent to Art for Guernsey by a local collector. Guest of honour Cyrille Sciama took the inaugural walk; the Director of the Musée des Impressionismes Giverny stunned the Art for Guernsey team by revealing that Renoir’s time in Guernsey proved to be a turning point in his career.
FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF RENOIR
The Renoir Walk allows participants to follow in the artist’s footsteps and appreciate the views that inspired his paintings. Five steel frames were especially commissioned to echo the ornate frames Renoir chose for his own artworks, but with a contemporary twist. These frames allow viewers to stand in the exact spots where Renoir worked on his paintings, and to see Moulin Huet bay from exactly the same perspectives as the Frenchman did.
The opening week of the Renoir Walk was a huge success, with 2,500 people walking the route, including a number of school groups – most of whom also visited Moulin Huet tearoom! The walk has been endorsed by the Normandy Impressionist Festival, BIAN and Le French Festival, thus achieving our goal of strengthening bonds through Cultural Diplomacy.
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Heading down to the Renoir Walk? Make sure you download our map which includes a space where you can paint your own Renoir! Remember each frame has a QR code that you can scan with your smartphone and you will receive narration from our Renoir expert Mr Cyrille Sciama.
Art for Guernsey would like to extend a special thank you to Mr Cyrille Sciama who has kindly accepted to be the guest of honour of the walk.
Mr Sciama, a rising star in the art world, is the Director of the Musée des Impressionismes Giverny; before taking office he was Territorial Heritage Curator at the Musée d’Arts in Nantes, where he curated ‘1886’, arguably one of the best Impressionism exhibitions of the last decade involving more than 100 world-class artworks borrowed from 60 collections across the world. He is also co-curator of the James Tissot exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco, which subsequently moved to the Musée d’Orsay.
1/5
BAIE DU MOULIN HUET À TRAVERS LES ARBRES
(Moulin Huet bay through the trees)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1883
461 x 654mm
Here you can admire the view of the coast that Renoir first glimpsed before walking down the hill. With his colour palette of green, brown and blue, Renoir has captured the light beautifully.
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2/5
BROUILLARD À GUERNESEY
(Fog in Guernsey)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1883
540 x 650mm
Looking through this frame, you suspect that Renoir did not paint the view exactly as he saw it. This piece is a tribute to Claude Monet’s Fisherman’s House at Varengeville, painted in 1882.
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3/5
ENFANTS AU BORD DE LA MER, GUERNESEY
(Children at the Seaside, Guernsey)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1883
920 x 670mm
Renoir loved to paint people, which is reflected in this piece. He was surprised to see people bathing naked on the beach, but the well-dressed group on the right is thought to have been added by Renoir later, in his Paris studio.
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4/5
VUE DE GUERNESEY
(View of Guernsey)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1883
460 x 560mm
The effect of the wind is shown in this painting, but you wouldn’t expect the wind to blow from the land towards the sea. This makes us wonder if the tree was really there or whether it was imagined by Renoir – what do you think?
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5/5
LA CÔTE DU MOULIN HUET
(The Moulin Huet coast)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1883
460 x 560mm
This view was painted before the Bon Port Hotel was built. You can clearly see that it was surrounded by very colourful fields, through the balanced colour palette Renoir used.
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“Art for Guernsey is a fantastic philanthropic organisation that is benefiting the Guernsey community and allows art to be accessed and enjoyed by everybody. The exhibitions have been very well received and our guests thoroughly appreciate it. The stunning work, the educational aspects offered during the course of the exhibition and the fact that Art for Guernsey made it possible for the artist to be resident in the islands also made the works more meaningful. Lancaster Guernsey is proud to be associated with such a professional initiative as Art for Guernsey.”
LANCASTER GUERNSEY
Sponsor
ENRICHING OUR ISLAND
OUR LEGACY
We have been working in the Bailiwick since 2016, bringing art exhibitions, events and creative activities of the highest standards of delivery and engagement to the community, from early education to care homes and everyone in between. We have reached not just our own community but far beyond our shores too. We always strive to inspire our community, innovate in our delivery, reach significant audiences and support future generations, combining creativity with impact.
