The French have been making beautiful works of art for hundreds of years, from Claude Monet’s Waterlily Pond with the Japanese Bridge to Camille Pisarro’s Jalais Hill, Pontoise.

The Cedar Rapids Art Museum opened up a new French exhibit to celebrate its 125th anniversary of the Cedar Rapids Art Museum. The exhibit is from the private collection of Cedar Rapids locals, Tom and Nan Riley. It holds works of art from Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. To the Xavier community, this opens up theopportunitytoseemoreFrench culture here in Cedar Rapids.

“Seeing that there is a new French artwork exhibit at our local museum is really special because I, myself, was a French student and it’s special to see French artists here in Cedar Rapids,” senior Nicole Constant said.

Constant has been in French for four years and her family has traveled to France.

“It reminds me of our school trip to France. It was truly beautiful and seeing some of that beauty at the museum brings back memories of our time in France,” Constant said.

The Xavier French students took a trip to France in the summer of 2019 where they explored art museums and visited the EiffelTower among other activities. For other French students, the exhibit could make connections to class.

“The new French museum is so exciting,” sophomore Lucy Pfab said. “As a French student, it will be neat to see the stuff I’m learning about in class being related back to my life in Cedar Rapids, I’ll definitely have to check it out.

”Pfab is an art student at Xavier. For Pfab, she could experience the museum as both an art and French enthusiast.

“Being an art student, the new exhibit could give me inspiration for my next projects,” Pfab said.

The exhibit will be at the museum from December 21, 2019 to April 12 of this year.