Since its launch in 2017 for the city’s 500th anniversary, One Summer in Le Havre has been offering international artists the opportunity to create works of art that echo the identity of the Porte Océane every year.

Our selection for a walk in Le Havre.

Catène conteneur au Havre

01Catène de containers (Vincent Canivet)

At the beginning of the 1980s, Oscar Niemeyer implanted the Volcan and its curved forms among the rectilinear buildings constructed by Auguste Perret. The same audacity emanates from the work of Vincent Canivet, who succeeded in the challenge of creating two light and majestic arches with 36 containers, these rigid orthogonal transport boxes typical of the Le Havre landscape.

This work created for the 500th anniversary of the city of Le Havre has become its Eiffel Tower!  

Les sculptures de Stephan Balkenhol

02Apparitions (Stephan Balkenhol)

Human or animal bodies are the Austrian artist’s favourite subjects. In Le Havre, he makes very human, mysterious and naive characters appear from window frames that have never been installed: he thus creates his own law of attraction!
Raise your head and observe! 

Impact, de Stéphane Thidet

03Impact
(Stéphane Tidet)

From the waters of the Commerce Basin, facing the Volcan, two jets of water regularly collide. Take a seat on one of the benches on the quay, wait a while and you will see and hear the power of this 21st-century fountain!

La structure UP#3 de Lang et Baumann sur la plage

04UP#3
(Sabine Lang and Daniel Bauman)

Artists Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann have created a work that punctuates the perspective of Avenue Foch. Their 10-metre-high white concrete portico emerges among the pebbles of the beach, thus linking it to the city.

Le Havre ghosts gardens bassin du Roy

05Ghost Gardens (Baptiste Debombourg)

It is a monumental and moving work that is rooted in the history of Le Havre. It should be admired at the Bassin du Roy, a body of water near which sits the statue of François I, the founding king of the city. The artist Baptiste Debombourg took an interest in the remains of this instigator who introduced the Italian Renaissance to France.

Le Temps suspendus, visible dans les Jardins Suspendus

06Time stands still (Cheval vert)

In 2017, several tens of thousands of Le Havre residents had their portraits taken. This large family photo is presented in an original form: an interactive mega-face book housed in one of the powder magazines of the Hanging Gardens. A real experience!

Mr Goeland Le Havre

07Mr Goeland
(Stephan Balkenhol)

This man with the head of a gull is hoisted on a hybrid support, which is as much from the perch as from the mast and its yard. He wears a pea coat, the emblematic garment of seafarers: navigators, fishermen, pirates… Installed on the esplanade of the Museum of Le Havre, surrounded by buildings, Mr. Goéland stretches towards the sky, as if to seek the sea present around. This monumental sculpture in painted bronze, 2m80, is placed on a perch of 3m20.

Oeuvre Parabole Caucriauville

08Parabole
(Alexandre Moronnoz)

Get off the beaten track! In the modern district of Caucriauville, created 50 years ago and accessible by tram, this wooden disk 15 metres in diameter offers a superb panorama of the Seine estuary and port of Le Havre. Balanced on the skyline, the place is perfect for a break!

Le Havre gold coast hehe

09Gold Coast (HeHe)

Gold Coast stands in contrast to the clarity of the polished concrete, with the blues and grays of the mineral and maritime landscape, giving a new aesthetic to this esplanade. The riprap is covered in gold like the architecture of a precious heritage.

Sisyphus casemate Le Havre

10Sisyphus casemate (Henrique Oliveira)

This sculpture, monumental, organic, familiar in its appearance, carries within it a form of mystery that pushes the viewer to question what he is facing. A work as enigmatic as it is obvious, it naturally takes its place in the heart of a botanical garden dedicated to the preservation of nature. Installed in one of the cells of the building, it breaks with the rigorous architecture of the place, and embraces its shapes, hollows and cracks.

Fabien Merelle Le Havre

11Till the end of the world (Fabien Merelle)

The two characters observe, from their 6.24m height, the maritime horizon and the ships that cross it. By an imaginary line, they also look towards New York, formerly linked to Le Havre by the Transatlantic line. A reminder of the past that resonates particularly in the family history of the artist, and in those of so many other people from Le Havre. But this sculpture also testifies to filiation, to the love of a father accompanying his daughter until she can follow her own path.

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