Area: Ile de France

The impressionism found its inspiration in the second part of the 19th century along the twists and turns of the Seine at that time spread with dancing cafes, row boat garages and bathing establishments between Asnières and Bougival.
Monet, Pissaro, Renoir, Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Vlaminck have immortalized the charm and the colours of one of the most attractive part of the Ile de France.

We invite you for a week end to discover the places where in the 19th century, the famous landscape painters have set there easel and mixed there colours.

See Our Exhibition - Impressionists in Paris

Paris was transformed by Napoleon III (Emperor 1852-1870) with his Prefect of the Seine Department (1853-1870), Baron Georges Haussmann. Baron Haussmann redesigned Paris not only to improve circulation, change infrastructure and demolish slums but also to make it easier to put down insurgents. Much of the city was rebuilt with the broad avenues and dramatic vistas we see today. In 1871 after the defeat of France by Prussia and the Commune uprising there was a feeling of artistic renewal and a new way of painting the life of the city showing its exuberance and vitality. The new "modern" city with open streets and boulevards lined by cafes and brasseries overflowing onto the sidewalks became a subject matter of interest to impressionist painters such as Manet, Monet, Caillebotte, Bazille, Pissarro, and Renoir. Paris had in fact become the "City of Light".

Join us on a journey to discover some of the impressionist works you can see when you visit Paris.

Weekend Getaway - Land of the Impressionists

Itinerary:

Welcome at hotel “Holiday Inn” or hotel “Villa des Impressionnistes” in Bougival. Check in and dinner. After dinner conference with slide show: Birth and development of the impressionist painting in the Seine Valley. Looking for countryside landscapes, light and human activities, the painters of the end of the 19th century regularly visit the buckle of the Seine and the surrounding villages.

Day 2

Walking tour through the narrow streets of Bougival and Louveciennes. Bougival was an attractive site for artists of the 19th century where tens of paintings of Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Berthe Morisot have been painted. The village is facing the Island of la Chaussée on the river where the famous dancing place “Le Bal des Canotiers” was located.Louveciennes is spread with former residence of impressionist painters. More then 100 paintings by Renoir, Monet, Sisley, or Pissaro representing Louveciennes are presently scattered in museums around the world.

The visit continue in Chatou on the Impressionist Island where painters and rowers, looking for open air and entertainment, used to come to enjoy there Sundays. We visit the Musée Fournaise and have lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise, a place frequented at that time by painters and where Renoir painted its famous painting “Le Déjeuner des Canotiers”

From the terrace of the restaurant we recognize the place painted by Renoir and which has been restored and maintained in the same colour and style as it appears on Renoir’s masterpiece.

Afternoon continuation to Carrières-sur-Seine which inspired the “wild painters” (peintres fauves) as Maurice Vlaminck, then we visit the Grenoullère museum in Croissy-sur-Seine. Located in the ancient house of Empress Joséphine de Beauarnais, the small museum celebrate the memory of the famous dancing café located opposite on the Ile de la Grenouillère immortalised by Claude Monet. We then proceed to Port- Marly and Marly-le-Roi where many artists and writers have lived as Maillol, Dumas or Victorien Sardou. Time to stroll around in the old Marly and its picturesque main street where we stop for a tea break in a charming tea lounge.

Evening dinner at the hotel. After dinner special musical evening dedicated to Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) French composer born in nearby Saint Germain en Laye.

Day 3

Morning at leisure for free discovery of one of the numerous cultural site in the surroundingas Ivan Tourgeniev Datcha in Bougival, open air museum in Marly-le-Roi, Monte Cristo Castle, residence of Alexandre Dumas in Port-Marly or Maurice Denis museum in Saint Germain en Laye etc.