Monet Masterpiece set to grace South Shields

A Claude Monet masterpiece will inspire my Creative Calligraphers in the new year.

South Shields Museum & Art Gallery will play host to The Petit Bras of the Seine at Argenteuil (1872) as part of The National Gallery’s Masterpiece Tour.

The venue is the first of just four in the country selected to display the painting, which has only left The National Gallery in London once in the last 20 years.

Monet masterpiece provides unique educational experience

South Shields Museum & Art Gallery plans to use the loan of the painting as a centrepiece for engagement with young people in South Tyneside affected by Emotion Based School Avoidance (EBSA).

The painting will be displayed alongside works from its own collection and artworks co-created by EBSA young people, teachers, and local organisations.

The exhibition, In the Presence of Nature, will focus on the power of art and nature, exploring themes of calm, retreat, and resilience.

EBSA – a growing issue locally and nationally – affects young people who struggle with attending school due to anxiety and complex emotions. 

Building on the museum’s recent pilot project around EBSA, which successfully used art as a medium for self-expression and understanding, the Masterpiece Tour will expand on this work and hopes to improve health and wellbeing in the community.

My Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society (CLAS) affiliated groups, based at Ocean Road Community Association in South Shields, will also be taking inspiration from the painting.

As well as visiting the exhibition, we will be creating work inspired by Monet, such as handmade ‘en plein air’ sketchbooks and watercolour painting.

Three-year project brings world-class art to the north east

The exhibition follows two previous successful partnerships between the National Gallery and North East Museums, which manages South Shields Museum & Art Gallery.

They were Constable Visits Jarrow in 2023 and National Treasures: Turner in Newcastle at the Laing Art Gallery in 2024.

I was fortunate to attend the launch event for Monet: In the Presence of Nature at The Word in South Shields – auspiciously on the 185th anniversary of Monet’s birth.

Keith Merrin, director of North East Museums, said: “We’re thrilled to have been selected to show the Monet masterpiece.

“Hosting this artwork will not only act as inspiration for important engagement work with young people, but it will offer a brilliant opportunity for people in our region to experience world-class art right here in South Tyneside.

“We are very proud of our ongoing partnership with the National Gallery and grateful for their support.”

Millions enjoy masterpieces closer to home

Since its inception in 2014, The National Gallery Masterpiece Tour has reached 400,953 people across the UK. The National Touring programme, including the National Gallery Masterpiece Tour and other travelling exhibitions, has now reached 1,467,618 people since 2014.

Dr Gabriele Finaldi, director of The National Gallery, said: “The National Gallery’s collection belongs to all of us. It is part of our duty and our honour to look after these paintings and to bring them to where people are, not just expect them to come to us.

“Partnering on touring exhibitions does so much more than bring beloved paintings from the collection to other places in the UK – it supports the whole country’s cultural ecosystem, connects people with paintings that belong to us all, and allows us to learn and expand our own practices and interpretations through the creativity of our partner organisations and their communities.

“That over one million people have visited these exhibitions in the last decade proves the desire to engage with our collection is growing, and we look forward to welcoming the next million visitors across the UK.”

Monet: In the Presence of Nature will run at South Shields Museum & Art Gallery from January 17 to March 25. Entry is free and on a drop-in basis.

Every Saturday, from January 24 until March 21, visitors are invited to enjoy free ‘Wellness Weekends’ at the venue, designed to encourage mindfulness and relaxation through art.