Those of you who don't reside here in North Carolina may not realize it, but there's more to culture than merely agriculture in the South.

Case in point: the exhibition Monet in Normandy, running through the 14th of January at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

While my mother was visiting last month, we took the opportunity to see the exhibition. Admittedly, it is not something I would have done on my own, without a wee bit of goading from Mom, but I'm very glad I went.

Claude Monet is one of the world's best-loved artists. His images of Normandy — its poppy fields, poplars, haystacks, Rouen Cathedral facade and, above all, its extraordinary coast — are regarded by art historians as revolutionary. The Normandy paintings embody a new vision, a fresh way of seeing, that assured Monet a place among the giants of art.

The exhibition features 50 paintings Monet produced along the Normandy coast of France.

For those of you here in the Raleigh area, I highly recommend spending an afternoon at the museum.

Posted by Russ at 10:40 AM, December 27, 2006 in North Carolina