Saturday, August 10, 2019

Traveling in France: Auvers-sur-Oise (Part 1 of 3)

Last week, we took a day trip, a pilgrimage of sorts, to the nearby village of Auvers-sur-Oise, northwest of Paris.  If you know the village's history, then you know why we went.

Auvers-sur-Oise is located northwest of Paris along (you guessed it) the Oise river, which flows into the Seine.  The village, accessible by train from Paris, has a population of about 7,000 people.  More than a century ago, the population was much smaller, about 2,000 people.

The village is picturesque, with old houses and shops and many farms around surrounding the town.  As a result, since the 19th century, Auvers-sur-Oise has been a destination for painters escaping the blight and smoke of industrial Paris and searching for rustic and pastoral scenes to paint.  Among those painters were Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro.  

Below are two early paintings by Cézanne, with photograahs of the same scene today.


Below is a photo of the same house, from a different angle.

Dr. Gachet's house (August 2019)

Carrefour de la rue Rémy à Auvers by Paul Cézanne (1872)
Intersection of the rue Rémy (August 2019)
An 19th-century artist who not only visited Auvers-sur-Oise but had a studio there was Charles-Francois Daubigny (1817-1878), who bridged the Romantic and Impressionist movements.  His studio and home are now a museum. 


What makes the house unique is that Daubigny and some friends decorated the house, painting the walls of several rooms in the house, like his daughter Cecile's bedroom, painted with scenes from French and German fairy tales.


Because interior photos were not allowed, we do not have any of our own photos to share.  You can see some photos here.  

The house has a lovely garden that must have been a wonderful place to paint, relax and entertain friends.  Some of Daubigny's friends included Camille Corot, Honoré-Daumier and Achille Oudinot.  


While strolling around the town, we spotted some street art pictured below.  Because the town is home to dozens of contemporary artists, we suppose one of them drew the image below.  

Sidewalk art in Auvers-sur-Oise
We also spotted antique cars, two Citroën 2 CV ("deux chevaux").



Next Up:  It's lunchtime in Auvers-sur-Oise.

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