A County Durham museum is paying “homage” to its French founder’s routes by bringing in works she would have approved of for its newest exhibition.
The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle has linked up with a museum in Le Havre for Impressions of Light, featuring a number of impressionist paintings never before been seen in the UK.
The display also highlights the links between the museum’s founders, John Bowes and his Parisian wife Josephine, and the French art world.
The museum said the exhibition, which will run until 14 March, involved a detailed planning operation to secure all necessary permissions and logistical arrangements, with specialist art couriers transporting the works.
The exhibition brings together 60 works from Bowes’ collection and the Musée d’Art Moderne André Malraux (MuMa), in Le Havre.
Bowes Museum’s executive director Hannah Fox said: “It doesn’t simply create a dialogue between our two museums, it restores a connection between two worlds.