Monet and friends travel from Le Havre to The Bowes Museum

This autumn, the light of the Normandy coast has found its way to Teesdale. The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle is hosting Impressions of Light: Masterpieces from MuMa, Le Havre and The Bowes Museum, a major international partnership running from 26 September 2026 to 14 March 2027.

The exhibition brings significant loans from the Musée d'Art moderne André Malraux in Le Havre, with works by Claude Monet, Eugène Boudin, Gustave Courbet, Camille Pissarro, Jean-Francis Auburtin and Raoul Dufy. They hang alongside the museum's own pioneering collection of Pre-Impressionist works, tracing how artists from Pre-Impressionism to Post-Impressionism learned to capture light, colour and the fleeting feeling of a place.

The works are arranged in themed groupings that echo the coast, cliffs, moorland and dales around the museum, drawing connections between the landscapes of France and County Durham.

The link with Le Havre runs deep. The museum's founders, Joséphine and John Bowes, were closely connected to France and, unusually for British collectors at the time, bought works by living French artists. Joséphine was a painter herself, influenced by the open-air approach of the Pre-Impressionists. The couple travelled often to Le Havre, and the museum's striking design was inspired by the town hall there. More than 150 years later, their collection and the masterpieces from Le Havre are together again.

There is a strong North East story on show too. Norman Cornish: A Life in Sketchbooks runs until 3 January, exploring the 269 sketchbooks the Spennymoor artist filled with the people and streets around him. Born in 1919, Cornish worked as a miner from the age of 14 while building his career as an artist. A recently acquired portrait of his wife, Sarah Peeling Potatoes, is now part of the permanent collection thanks to legacy funds from The Friends of The Bowes Museum. Cornish described such images as representing "thousands of women who were heroines of the coalfield".

The coming weeks are busy. October half-term brings family activities from 24 October to 1 November, Bowes Lates opens the museum after hours on Saturday 21 November with an evening inspired by light and landscapes, and the Winter Market returns from 11 to 13 December with more than 100 artists, designers, makers and food stalls.

Tickets and event details are on The Bowes Museum website.