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Impressionist Visions THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, JULY 7, 2002 IMPRESSIONIST VISIONS Not far from Paris, two sleepy villages, Auvers-sur-Oise and Ornans, bring to mind the paintings of van Gogh, Daubigny and Courbet that they inspired By Dana Micucci hile living in Paris some 10 years ago, I developed Photographs by Wendy Lamm/Contrasto, for The New York Times an obsession: visiting the Scenes in Auvers-sur-Oise. Notre Dame, made famous by van Gogh, whose grave is in a cemetery not far away homes and haunts of art- respite from the disruptive city. In Auvers he vast wheat and cornfields under the shifting Wists and writers, hoping, perhaps, to spark a found a setting that was “profoundly beauti- clouds and swiftly changing light of the lIe- little inspiration of my own. Soon, I happily ful ... among other things, many old thatched de-France sky. A road lined poplars discovered that my aesthetic indulgences roofs, which are getting rare,” he wrote to his In the mid-1900’s, after the railroad put need not be confined to the capital. brother Theo shortly after his arrival. Auvers less than an hour from Paris, land- the small inn and cafe owned by the Ravoux In the villages of Auvers-sur-Oise and Or- Today, the village of about 6,500 still scape painters like Daubigny and Corot, Pis- family. Painstakingly restored by the Bel- nans, each a day’s train excursion from Paris, brings to mind the paintings it inspired. Here sarro and Cezanne also came to paint from gian entrepreneur Dominique-Charles Jans- are the homes and studios of several celebrat- are the narrow, twisting streets fringed with nature. sens, the inn is now a historic monument ed 19th-century artists, including Vincent linden and poplar trees, the ivy draped stone Van Gogh spent the last weeks of his known as the Ravoux Inn or House of van van Gogh, Charles Francois Daubigny and walls and shuttered farmhouses, the court- life here, producing scores of paintings, in Gogh. It was the first stop on my self-styled Gustave Courbet. These residences, care- yard gardens bathed in the green, yellow a feverish burst of creativity. He had found tour. Passing through a succession of own- fully preserved for more than a century and and mauve of van Gogh’s, paintings and the cheap lodging across from the town hall at ers since van Gogh’s time, the inn has a long open to the public, offer an intimate glimpse tradition as a gathering place for artists. into the artists’ private worlds. I was delight- After painting in the village and fields, ed to find that both villages have continued van Gogh would return to the inn’s cafe for their tradition as art colonies and remained lunch and dinner. Today, green- and crimson- relatively unchanged over the years. painted walls, a zinc bar, straw-seated chairs Last summer, as I boarded the morn- and antique tables covered with linen tea ing train from Gare St.-Lazare in Paris to towels, recreate the century-old ambience. Auvers-sur-Oise, a small village on the Visitors can enjoy traditional, home-style banks of the Oise River, some 20 miles north French meals and local wines. of Paris, I imagined van Gogh making the tAfter a tasty lunch of beef fillet with same journey in the spring of 1890, seeking Musée Gustave Courbet, above on the Loue In Ornans Comté cheese van Gogh’s grave vegetables, I climbed the stairs to a suffo- catingly small space on the inn’s third floor. to Ornans and arrived within 20 minutes. This is the garret where van Gogh stayed. It The French realist painter Gustave was once furnished with a simple iron bed, a Courbet was born in Omans in 1819, in an table and straw-seated chair, a water jug and 18th-century stone town house that hugs the a bowl for washing. A small green wall cup- banks of the River Loue, its reflection shim- board held his few belongings. In the cracks mering in the water. Now known as the Mu- and nail holes along the barren walls where see Gustave Courbet, it is furnished from the his paintings once hung to dry, his presence period and houses more than 60 works by the lingers. artist, his friends and followers, as well as by The countryside depicted in paintings by 20th-century artists who have been inspired van Gogh, Daubigny and Cezanne unfolds by the region. during a leisurely stroll through the village. Courbet lived and painted primarily Color reproductions of their canvases are in Paris, where he immersed himself in bo- posted at the many sites where they set up hemian life and the radical socialist politics their easels. A convenient starting point is that ultimately led to his political impris- the old wooden staircase opposite the tourist onment and subsequent self-imposed exile office, which was the subject of van Gogh’s in Switzerland. But he returned to Ornans “Stairway at Auvers.” frequently throughout his lifetime, drawing There are other landmarks, including the comfort and inspiration from his family and Romanesque-Gothic Notre Dame church, the majestic landscape he had grown to love perched on the hillside overlooking the vil- as a child. lage and the subject of van Gogh’s “Church A sleepy, picturesque village (popula- at Auvers.” Just beyond lies the small ceme- tion 4,128), Ornans was delightfully devoid, tery where van Gogh and Theo are buried. It of tourists on the day that I visited. Its cen- Musée Daubigny, near the artist’s house and studio, in Auvers. is surrounded by the wheat fields that appear turies-old houses overhanging the Loue; the frequently in the artist’s Auvers paintings. the Ravoux lnn and Daubigny’s House and 12th-century church, St.-Laurent, with its el- In the center of town is the restored 17th- Studio, where he lived from 1862 to 1878. egant belfry; the stone bridges; old mills; and century Chateau de Lery. It was in a farm- One of the first artists to work entirely out the Roche du Mont—a rugged cliff that rises yard behind the chateau, on July 27, 1890, of doors, Daubigny is noted for his luminous behind the village like a fortress—appear in that van Gogh shot himself in the chest. He landscapes of the French countryside and is many of Courbet’s works. died two days later at the age of 37. At the often called a forefather of Impressionism. “There are a lot of idiots who think chateau I saw an interesting 90-minute au- His house and studio are enlivened with that you can do a landscape just like that !” diovisual presentation of the Impressionist murals by him and by his friends Corot and Courbet once proclaimed. “Well, that’s just a era, incorporating the latest special effects. Daumier. joke! To paint a country, you have to know The chateau’s restaurant, Les Canotiers, Galleries throughout Auvers show the It. ... Go and see, and you’ll recognize all my serves lunch in a lovely 17th-century stone- work of the many contemporary painters pictures.” walled orangery and an adjacent, less formal and sculptors who still live and work here in As I wandered about, admiring vistas cafe. Nearby, at 78, rue du Docteur Gachet, the tradition of their famous precursors. Al- marked by easels bearing reproductions of is the home of Paul Gachet, the Impression- though the village is close enough to Paris, Courbet’s paintings, I recalled my college The New York Times ist art collector and homeopathic physician to make it a convenient day trip, there are art history professor’s passion for the self- who ministered to van Gogh during his stay. several pleasant bed-and-breakfast options Gustave Courbet, southeast of Paris, in the proclaimed master painter and all the slides (Gachet’s house has been restored and will and the Hostellerie du Nord. Franche-Comte, near the Swiss border. The that I had memorized depicting these very soon be open to the public.) I left Auvers-sur-Oise feeling that I had two-and-a-half-hour train ride from the Gare sites. Paintings, drawings and engravings by discovered the quintessential French village, de Lyon to Besancon, which is about 16 At 24, place Gustave Courbet, in the cen- Daubigny, Cezanne, Dr. Gachet, Jean Fran- overflowing with authentic rural charm and miles from Ornans, took me through rolling ter of town, is the attic studio where Courbet cois Millet and others are on display at the richly layered with culture and history. Next hills and pastures and wheat and sunflower painted “A Burial at Ornans” (1849). The Musee Daubigny, just a few steps away from on my itinerary was Ornans, the home of fields. At the Besancon station I hired a taxi citizens of Ornans came here to pose for the Switzerland, the Franche-Comte region is noted for its rich farming tradition and lush natural beauty. Courbet traveled through- out the department of Doubs, in the heart of Franche-Comte, painting its rivers and lakes, hidden ravines and waterfalls, forests and cliffs. I was fortunate to meet a hospitable local family who drove me through the coun- tryside to view some of these sites, again marked by easels bearing reproductions of Courbet’s paintings. The Doubs offers more than a total im- mersion course in Courbet, however. There are intimate museums devoted to angling in Ornans, wine and vineyards in Lods and re- gional costumes in Montgesoye. And there are, plenty of outdoor sports and diversions: fly-fishing, kayaking, canoeing, riverboat cruising and touring underground glaciers.
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