Unique centenary walk puts Renoir scenes in the picture

To mark the centenary of the death of famous French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Art for Guernsey has created a unique Renoir walk around Moulin Huet as well as an exhibition containing a privately-owned sketch by the artist which has not been seen by the public in more than 100 years.

The walk opened on Wednesday and will run until tomorrow. 14/07.

It begins at the old Moulin Huet Pottery building, which houses the temporary Renoir exhibition.

It then follows a walk around the Moulin Huet area to take in views that inspired five of Renoir’s paintings. ‘Moulin Huet bay through the trees’, ‘Fog in Guernsey’, ‘Children at the Seaside, Guernsey’, ‘View of Guernsey’ and ‘The Moulin Huet coast’.

At each of these views a frame has been placed which shows the painting’s view.

The frames have QR codes and from today 13/07 walkers can use smart devices to hear general director of the Museum of Impressionism Giverny Cyrille Sciama’s narrative on the pieces.

Founder of Arts for Guernsey David Ummels was thrilled with the success of the walk.

‘Yesterday [Thursday] we had a sea of people. About 1,000 did the walk and we had people from Michigan, France, Germany, even Belgium.’

Mr Ummels said there was even a group who took a boat over from France specially to see the exhibition and the walk.

‘This walk really puts Guernsey on the map.’

The walk and exhibition has been entirely funded by Arts for Guernsey and Mr Ummels said after the series finished, the organisation was hoping to put in an application to make the walk a permanent feature.

‘I believe if it were permanent it would bring more tourists,’ he said.

Keiran correct spelling Wyatt-Nicolle, also of Art for Guernsey, said for him the event was about making art accessible.

‘It’s all about seeing and looking in your own time.

‘Taking the time to stop and take it in.

‘That particular exhibition piece is privately-owned and it hasn’t been in the public eye for at least 100 years – and probably won’t be in the public eye again because it is privately-owned.’

Mr Sciama said it was the first time he had visited Guernsey and he was pleased to be able to make the link between Guernsey and the current arts festival being held in Normandy.

‘The mix of the beauty of nature with art is very good.

‘Renoir was a genius who can inspire us,’ he said.

Mr Sciama was very happy to have been invited on the walk and said he thought Guernsey was a small paradise.

Around 30 walkers joined Mr Sciama and Arts for Guernsey on the Renoir walk on Friday morning and many schoolchildren were down on Moulin Huet drawing inspiration from the work of the artist.

Local Dave Hyett was also down on the beach with his family, posing as Renoir at work with his daughter Evie, 6, helping with the painting.

‘We came up with the idea if she wanted to help me work on the art while my wife and son are down on the beach,’ he said.

Liz Bisson lives in the UK and was holidaying in Sark.

‘I came over specially for the walk, it’s very exciting,’ she said.

Renoir visited Guernsey in 1883 and worked on 15 paintings during his stay, all showing views of Moulin Huet.