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In the footsteps of the Impressionists
Following in the footsteps of the Impressionists in Ile-de-France, what lover of painting has not dreamt of such a project, coming across La Grenouillère or finding the terrace used by the boating party ? But it’s a big project and many of the places have changed. Prompted by the Cézanne-Pissarro 1865-1885 exhibition at the musée d’Orsay in Paris, why not take this opportunity to go to the places chosen by Monet, Degas, Renoir, Sisley or Gauguin.
In the early 1870s, the countryside was not far from the capital. Once past the ancient city walls of Paris, the landscape turned green, albeit pitted here and there with factory chimneys, the silos of large mills and railway bridges. The train was indeed the great ally of the Impressionists, and it is still our means of transport for reaching those fields, forest interiors and boating areas. Twenty minutes from Saint-Lazare station and you are in Bougival and Chatou. Drawn here by Renoir, whose parents lived in Ville d’Avray, Monet and Sisley came to sketch Nana in the sunshine. Not far away, Argenteuil lent them its reflections on the water. In Pontoise you would find Pissarro, soon joined in Auvers-sur- Oise by Cézanne. This is where Doctor Gachet took care of Van Gogh during his two-month stay at the Auberge Ravoux in 1890. And then there are Moret-sur-Loing, Yerres, Sannois, the banks of the Marne… So pick your itinerary from among all these heritage sites according to your favourite painters.

Guy Boyer, editor-in-chief of the maGazine “connaissance des arts”.