5 ways to visit Guernsey in the footsteps of Renoir

It’s been nearly 140 years since renowned French artist Pierre-August Renoir stepped foot on the Channel Island of Guernsey for a five-week stay that ended up transforming his artistic style forever.

Now, some of his paintings are returning to the place where they were first created, as part of a one-off art exhibition.

Renoir in Guernsey, 1883 is the brainchild of local organisation Art for Guernsey and brings together a dozen Renoir works – including nine of the 15 paintings he made on the island – from museums and private collections around the world.

Works on display include Marine, Guernesey on loan from the Musée D’Orsay; Baie de Moulin-Huet à Guernesey from the National Gallery; Baie de Salerne ou Paysage de Midi from the Musée d’art Moderne in Le Havre; and Brouillard à Guernesey on loan from the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Art for Guernsey founder David Ummels said: “It’s brilliant to see this one-of-a-kind exhibition coming to life before our eyes. Guernsey inspired Renoir and fundamentally changed his painting style, and we only hope that our exhibition is able to inspire others in the same way.”

If that stirs up some artistic inspiration, here are five ways to walk in the footsteps of Renoir on a visit to Guernsey.

The Renoir in Guernsey, 1883 exhibition should be the starting point for any art-inspired exploration of the island, running from 30 September until 15 December. This partnership between Guernsey Museums in Candie and the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny marks the first time many of these works have gone on public display, with some being brought back to the island for the first time since they were created here 140 years ago. Timed one-hour tickets are on sale for the exhibition, which is open daily (Mon-Tue 11am-5pm, Wed 11am-7pm, Fri-Sun 9am-5pm). Find out more from Art for Guernsey.

Before Art for Guernsey set its sights on reuniting Renoir’s works in a gallery setting, the team had already marked out a trail for dedicated art fans to explore the real-life inspiration behind some of the painter’s most famous landscapes. The short, self-guided Renoir Walk takes visitors to five locations along the Moulin Huet Valley on Guernsey’s south coast that provided the subject matter for many of his most celebrated pieces, immortalising the views over the bay – and its bathers – on canvas. Ornate picture frames mark the exact points where Renoir worked to show the artist’s perspective, and include a QR code to access more information about each spot and the artwork it inspired.

For more context on life in Guernsey at the time of Renoir’s visit, a sister exhibition has also gone in display to bring together a collection of artefacts, photographs, documents and engravings that showcase daily life during this period. A Day in 1883 is now open to view at the Priaulx Library, next to the Guernsey Museum at Candie in capital St Peter Port – and not far from where the artist and his wife stayed in lodgings at number four, George Road, for five weeks starting from 5 September 1883.

One of the most celebrated features of Renoir’s works during his time on Guernsey is his use of light, which at the time was part of a furious debate over the merits of painting versus photography, and whether the latter could ever capture the movement of light in the same way. Using only the camera technology that would have been available in the 1880s, local photographer Paul Chambers has captured a number of images from around the island that play on the use of light. These will go on display at the AFG Gallery in the Old Quarter 

Local residents have also been getting involved in Renoir-inspired activities around the island, with everything from prison rehabilitation programmes to primary school activities. Alongside Paul Chambers’ photographs are 530 ceramic tiles painted by the island's Year Three children, inspired by Renoir’s early life, working as an apprentice to a porcelain painter in Paris from the age of 13. Why not pack your sketchpad and see if Guernsey’s walking routes and coastal landscapes are enough to spark your creative side?

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