On the occasion of the centenary of the death of Claude Monet (1840–1926), the MuMa is dedicating its summer exhibition to the artist’s formative years in Le Havre and to the decisive influence the port city had on the development of both his vision and technique. Bringing together nearly one hundred works, documents, and archives from public and private institutions, as well as from the artist’s descendants, the exhibition sheds light on the three decades—from 1845 to 1874—during which Monet divided his life between Le Havre and Paris. This period of learning and artistic affirmation saw the emergence of a new pictorial sensitivity that would lead to the birth of Impressionism.
In dialogue with this retrospective, the exhibition also features two monumental installations by contemporary artist Ai Weiwei, presented together for the first time in France as part of the Normandie Impressionniste 2026. Entitled Water Lilies, these spectacular works—composed of hundreds of thousands of LEGO bricks—reinterpret Monet’s famous Nymphéas.
The exhibition is supported by major institutions, including the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée Marmottan Monet, as well as prestigious international museums and private collections from France and abroad, bringing together an exceptional selection of works and documents dedicated to the genesis of one of the greatest painters in art history.
Curated by Géraldine Lefebvre, director of MuMa, assisted by Michaël Debris, collections manager at MuMa, and Pascal Perrin, art historian.
