Top 10 Art Museums in Haute-Normandie, Normandy

Situated in a magnificent bourgeois house of the 16th century, discover the museum collections: archeology, regional ethnology, ceramic, furniture, military Art, numismatic… In the cellar was reconstituted a room dedicated to the oldest cheese of Normandy : the Neufchatel.

The first thing you notice about the Musée d'art moderne André Malraux-MuMa Le Havre is its breathtaking coastal setting. As you approach the spacious, light-filled museum building, Henri-Georges Adam's monumental concrete sculpture The Signal heightens the experience, framing a slice of the maritime landscape that inspired many of the works in the museum's collections. Le Havre has nurtured artists like Monet, Dubuffet, Friesz, Dufy and Braque. And MuMa is a pillar of the city's art history. Inaugurated in 1961 by André Malraux, then France's Minister of Cultural Affairs, MuMa is known for its late-19th and 20th-century collections. From the Impressionists to the Fauves, the museum's collections have been enriched by gifts such as works from the studio of Eugène Boudin and the Marande donation. More recently, Hélène Senn-Foulds donated an impressive collection built up by her grandfather, Olivier Senn, in the early 20th century. Thanks to the donation, MuMa's collection of Impressionist works is today one of France's largest, and the public can now enjoy works by Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, Courbet and Corot.

Paul Michel Thibault (1735-1799), the architect of the fortifications and hydraulic engineer of the city of Le Havre, decided around 1790, to build a mansion in a wealthy and coveted district of the city. In 1800,Martin Pierre Foache (1728-1816), a wealthy merchant, bought the house for use as a winter residence and to install his trading office there. He called another architect, Pierre Adrien Paris, former designer for the king, to decorate the interior. The facade is typical of the architecture of The Louis XVI period. It is extremely carefully designed; the parquet flooring of rare and exotic wood adjoins stone-tiled floors with geometric designs. the rooms are laid out around a central octagonal light-well.

Le musée de Bernay est l’image, presque l’archétype, des musées de Province conçus au 19e siècle : encyclopédiques et didactiques, mêlant les collections Beaux-Arts, les Antiquités, les Sciences et l’Histoire naturelle. L’idée d’un musée à Bernay va germer dans les esprits dès le début du 19e siècle, et s’accentuer suite à plusieurs découvertes archéologiques qui seront achetées et transférées à Paris : le Cabinet des médailles achète le trésor de Berthouville découvert de 1830, et le musée de Cluny à Paris et celui de Saint-Germain-en-Laye acquièrent une crosse en bronze doré d’un abbé de Bernay découverte dans l’abbatiale en 1858. Alphonse Assegond, dans une lettre datée du 19 mai 1865, propose de céder sa collection de faïences à la ville de Bernay, à condition de devenir le premier conservateur du musée. Sa proposition est acceptée le 5 mai 1866. Le musée des Beaux-Arts de Bernay était né.

The Martainville castle The castle, built in 1485 by Jacques the first of Martainville, is one of the rare examples of the first Renaissance architecture in Normandy. It has been keeping its original inside arrangement. The visit of the castle can be completed with a visit of the dovecot, the bread oven and other outside annexes. The museum of traditions and arts of Normandy installed in the castle shows a notable collection of regional furniture from the Renaissance and the 19th century. The ethnographic section for Normandy is a reconstitution of farms made with objects and testimonies of the life in the 18th and 19th centuries. The last floor presents the large collection of Norman headdresses, costumes and jewels, and traditional music instruments. The museum has temporary exhibitions every year. Since 2014, a Renaissance garden was created in the rear side of the castle.