DARLINGTON and Barnard Castle have been chosen for screenings of two new films that will appeal to lovers of modern art and gardening enthusiasts.

The link between them is the French artist Monet and American Impressionism, and how the relationship between art and gardening blossomed in the US between 1887 and 1920.

Simultaneous showings at cinemas throughout the country include Vue in Darlington, which will screen I, Claude Monet on February 21 and 23.

The same film will be shown at The Witham, Barnard Castle, on February 21.

This is followed by The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism at Vue on March 21 and 28. The Barnard Castle screening is on March 21.

The latter tells the intertwining stories of American Impressionism and the garden movement that came about during America’s industrialisation, when an emerging middle class began to spend their free time and wealth cultivating private gardens.

In 1886, the French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel brought a selection of impressionist paintings to New York and changed the course of American art.

Many US artists were inspired to visit Monet’s garden at Giverny and used the experience to capture America’s own landscapes.

The film follows the exhibition, The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887-1920, on its sell-out progression from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to the "home" of the movement – Florence Griswold’s colony at Old Lyme.

The production company is Exhibition on Screen which previously issued Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, made in conjunction with the Royal Academy.

I, Claude Monet reveals the artist, businessman and lover using words drawn from thousands of his letters and brought to life by the actor Henry Goodman.

It reveals a tumultuous inner life marked by moments of intense depression and euphoric creation, offering a complex portrait of one of the world’s best loved artists. The film also features more than 100 of his paintings.