2025-12-02 - NEWSPAPER ARTICLE - La dépêche du Midi 

Laurence Saunois in front of one of her crates ready to ship to the United States

Laurence Saunois supervising the loading of crates ready to leave for the United States.

La dépêche du Midi devotes an article to Nympheus Luminansis. Copyright La dépêche du Midi

Laurence Saunois's canvases set sail for the United States

Laurence Saunois's "Nympheus Luminansis" exhibition drew over a thousand visitors to the Salle Balène. The artworks, inspired by Monet's gardens, are now embarking on a two-year tour across the United States. Fine art prints are available in France.

More than a thousand people visited the brand-new exhibition dedicated to Laurence Saunois's "Nympheus Luminansis" project. This popular success deeply touches the Figeac-based artist, who devoted eight years of her life to this incredible artistic challenge. Unveiled over eight days, from November 22 to 30, at the Salle Balène, the ten paintings inspired by Claude Monet's garden left Figeac this Tuesday bound for the United States. It was a powerful moment for the painter, who never took her eyes off her works. First, with extreme care, each unique XXL-format canvas had to be unhung and then safely packed into custom-designed wooden crate boxes. The artist had meticulously planned this phase, having hired a specialized firm well in advance.

"It's a massive, massive logistical effort. I was fortunate to work with highly skilled professionals who handle museum artwork. We had to find them and then have the crates custom-built. These are museum-grade boxes where the canvases slide in securely without moving at all. It's the exact same principle used for masterworks traveling to the Louvre," proudly explains Laurence Saunois, who fine-tuned every single detail of this high-stakes departure from Figeac.

Emotion was palpable as workers loaded the truck that will transport the precious works—awaited across the Atlantic—to Charles de Gaulle Airport. The exceptional collection will fly out of France at the end of the week for the United States, where a museum tour planned for at least two years awaits. The first exhibition is scheduled to open on January 15 in Connecticut, before moving on to Alabama, Louisiana, Houston, Texas, and Kansas. The Figeac painter will travel to the U.S. to attend the American premiere. "It's the start of a brand-new story," reveals the artist, proud of the work accomplished yet nervous about letting her "babies" go.

Under the watchful eye of the Figeac painter, the custom-built crates for each canvas were loaded this Tuesday into a truck specially chartered for transport. / DDM – JC BOYER.

Signed and numbered fine art prints of each piece

The ten paintings she envisioned with extreme precision after a visit to Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny completely consumed her, requiring thousands of hours of work. During these years dedicated to creation, Laurence Saunois received the support of the city of Figeac through a partnership, which notably helped her navigate the various technical challenges to bring this artistic endeavor to life. A book retracing the project's history and showcasing the city of Figeac was also published. Within a single week, every published copy was already sold out.

Hélène Lacipière, Figeac city councilor for culture and heritage, followed this grand journey with immense joy. "It's a truly wonderful adventure. Everything went exactly as we envisioned when we first built this project together," she praised.

While the paintings leave Figeac for at least two years, Laurence Saunois's works will remain available in France as fine art prints. Prior to the Figeac exhibition, the painter sent her works on a preliminary journey to Brittany, where a specialized laboratory scanned them in ultra-high resolution. These high-quality, signed, and numbered reproductions are already available for purchase on the artist's website (www.laurencesaunois.net).

Audrey Lecomte