France Through the Eyes of the Impressionists: A 12-Day Artistic Journey from Paris to Provence

After your flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport you will be greeted by your private driver who will take you to your hotel in the heart of the city. Here you can start your Art & Culture trip through France. The rest of the day is at your own leisure. Take a stroll along the Seine, have a coffee in a local cafè or just enjoy the Parisian light that has inspired so many painters, writers and artists for centuries. This is a gentle introduction to this beautiful city and the many more days of art, history and landscapes to come.

Jump the long queues to visit two of the best museums of modern and contemporary art in Paris. You will start with a guided tour of the collections of the Orsay Museum, one of the biggest museums in the world dedicated to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. This former Belle Epoque railway station is home to works by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Cezanne and many other artists. The tour will provide insight into the works of art and the artists who created them. You will see how they developed and pioneered the use of light, movement and real life subjects in their work. After the Orsay Museum we will visit the Musée de l’Orangerie. You will have reserved entry to this charming museum, which is located in the beautiful Tuileries Garden. The museum houses some of Monet’s most famous works, his monumental Water Lilies, as well as other works by Cezanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso and many others. You can admire the colors and atmosphere of these paintings at your own pace.

Giverny was the country garden of painter Claude Monet who used it as his studio. You will visit Clos Normand, the large garden of his country property, where the flowerbeds are changed with the seasons and there is also a Japanese garden with a bridge, a water garden with fish and so on and more, all the things that inspired the famous paintings of this artist. In the afternoon you shall go to Auvers-sur-Oise where painter Vincent van Gogh spent the last months of his life. You can see the village, the streets, the fields and the church that inspired his late paintings. In this village he lived in the boarding house where he died and you will also see his grave, a very touching place.

Spend the day with the paintings of Claude Monet! You will go to the Marmottan Monet Museum which has the biggest collection of his paintings. With your skip-the-line tickets you can see his early works that were called “Impressionism” and his beautiful water lily paintings that he painted in his garden in Giverny. You can also see his drawings, letters and even his personal objects which will give you an idea of the life of this famous artist. The museum also has paintings and objects of other famous Impressionists like Berthe Morisot, Gustave Caillebotte, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet. In the evening you can return to Paris to have dinner in a bistro of one of the many neighborhoods of the city or you can also go for a walk in the city at night when all the streets are lit up and the city is full of life.

Today, you set out for Montmartre, the hilltop district where artists gathered in studios, cabarets, cafes and gardens. Your walk reveals the neighborhood's creative spirit, from Montmartre Cemetery, where Degas is buried, to the landmarks and lively streets once frequented by Renoir, Manet, Degas, Pissarro and many other artists of the period. At the Musee de Montmartre, discover paintings, posters, drawings and archival pieces that capture the area's bohemian soul. Continue into the Renoir Gardens, where the atmosphere recalls the social life, color and movement of Belle Epoque Paris. From here, enjoy views across the vineyard and northern Paris before returning to the city for an evening at your own pace.

Take a Train to Rouen, a medieval town famous for Impressionist art! You start your time in Rouen, a charming historic town, at the stunning Musee des Beaux-Arts. This museum is one of the largest and most impressive in France, housing an incredible collection of art from around the world, including many famous paintings by Monet, Sisley, Renoir and many more artists. The Impressionist artists were drawn to the area because of the ever-changing light. On this private walking tour of the historic town center, your artist can see for themselves what inspired this group of artists. See the magnificent Gothic cathedral that Monet painted at different times of day and in different weather conditions. The town is full of half timbered houses and historic squares and is set on the River Seine. It is easy to see why Rouen was a source of inspiration to these famous artists. Return to Paris for your last night in France.

After breakfast you will leave the hotel for the train to Avignon. In Provence, everything is a change for you: the salons of Paris, the sky of Normandy and now this warm light of southern France after the stones of Avignon. After arrival at the train station, a short walk will take you to your hotel, where you will be able to check in and start to get used to the southern way of life. The rest of the day is free in Avignon and its medieval city center, which is as impressive as it is rich in architecture, things to see and places to sit at the terraces of cafes to enjoy the atmosphere of the old city walls. Then you will be able to start to get into the landscapes of Van Gogh and Cezanne, which are so close to Avignon and in which you will be able to walk for hours. A wonderful transition.

Today is dedicated to Vincent van Gogh's Provence. Begin in Arles, where the artist found the bold colors and dramatic sunlight that transformed his work. With a local guide, discover the city's Roman heritage, lively squares and places linked to Van Gogh's time here. Continue to Les Baux-de-Provence for the Carrières de Lumières, an immersive multimedia venue where art is projected across vast quarry walls in a powerful meeting of image, sound and space. The day concludes at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole near Saint-Remy, where Van Gogh spent a deeply creative year and produced some of his most memorable works. Return to Avignon in the evening.

Travel by train from Avignon to Aix-en-Provence, a graceful city of fountains, markets, pale stone facades and artistic heritage. After checking in, begin your introduction to Paul Cezanne, who was born here and remained deeply connected to the surrounding landscape throughout his life. Join a small-group visit to Cezanne's studio, preserved with the quiet atmosphere of a working artist's space. Here, objects, light and simplicity reveal how he observed the world with extraordinary discipline. Later, enjoy free time to explore Aix's elegant squares, cobbled lanes and cafe terraces.

Begin with a walk through Aix-en-Provence's old town, where daily life unfolds among markets, fountains and honey-colored streets. This is the city that shaped Cezanne's eye and your guide will help connect its atmosphere to the painter's enduring fascination with structure, color and place. Enjoy lunch near the foot of Mont Sainte-Victoire, the mountain that became Cezanne's great muse. Follow the Route de Cezanne and visit the Terrain des Peintres, where he captured the mountain from shifting angles and in changing light. Later, pause at a local market or pastry shop to taste the flavors of Provence before returning to Aix for the evening.

Today, you visit the Bibemus Quarries, one of the most famous locations where Cezanne worked. You will see the ochre stone, the wild growth of nature and the other geological features which influenced Cezanne’s perception of color and form. The location of the site in the Sainte-Victoire Natural Park is stunning and you follow trails through the site, viewing different vantage points and visiting Cezanne’s stone refuge where he would retreat into isolation for periods, returning to paint some of the works that he produced here. Returning to Aix you spend your last evening relaxed in this laid back southern French town. You may wish to enjoy a glass of local wine and a Provençal dinner perhaps.

The last day of your Impressionist tour of France starts with breakfast. Then your hotel will organize your departure by taxi to the nearest train station or airport in order to continue your travels. We hope you had as much fun visiting the museums, the artists’ villages, the gardens and the countryside of famous Provence as you did visiting the various locations where famous artists of history found inspiration for their work. Bon voyage!