Auvers-sur-Oise

Tuesday, June 2, I spent the day with my friend Michael Osman on a trip to Auvers-sur-Oise.  Auvers is north of Giverny, the painter Claude Monet's home and gardens.  You have probably never heard of Auvers.  It is where Vincent Van Gogh spent the last months of his life.  Other painters such as Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Henri Rousseau, and Charles-Francois Daubigny lived, visited, and painted here.

Michael met me at the door of the rue Cler apartment building.  We took the métro and train to reach Auvers.  

The city is not big, and certainly is not the tourist attraction that Giverny is. We followed a map showing the Vincent sites.  At each one (except one), a brass marker appeared:

The first we encountered was a spot where Vincent painted a house and garden.

There is a nice park, dedicated to Vincent:

Further down the road is the Hôtel de Ville:

Across from the Hôtel de Ville is the boarding house in which Vincent died.  His room is preserved but with no furniture Quel Bizarre!  The boarding house is now a restaurant which was closed bien sûr on the day we chose to visit.  

Vincent would paint a portrait of the little girl in the picture above:

Our route took us up a path to Daubigny's former home that is now a museum.  Another Vincent marker was posted on the wall:

We saw the gentleman above several times on our walk.  This path leads to the church that Vincent painted.  I first saw the painting in the Musée d'Orsay which is what prompted  my interest in visiting Auvers.  Here are some of the sights on the path to the church:

Vincent's painting is of the back of the church, but here are the steps leading up to the entry:

 Interesting window treatments:

Inside the church:

The path after the church visit lead to another landscape, then the cemetery:

My family likes poppies.  I tried to get some good poppy pictures, but the wind blew really fiercely this day.

The path from the cemetary leads to some fields where Vincent may have painted his last piece before receiving a shot to his chest and dying several days later.  Tradition has had it that Vincent shot himself; however, a relatively new biography Vincent a Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith suggests that Vincent may have either been murdered or shot accidentally (I think the authors lean towards the murder idea.)

We also trailed after various groups of school children on field trips:

Our monsieur 

Mistletoe—which is actually a parasite on these trees:

Wind swept field:

Random standing stone that may be a tomb marker:

Auvers has an absinthe museum.  Fermé mardi, bien sûr.

Some chateau Michael dragged me to (kidding):

A homemade bee house:

Vincent on a door advertising driving lessons:

Mural in the café where we had lunch (Michael's photo).  Funny story:  I ordered a salad and asked for no tomatoes and no hard boiled eggs in my best French.  The waiter asked if I spoke English?  Wow?!  He told me that the salad wasn't complete without the eggs and tomatoes, and I would have to pay the same price.  I said, Oui!  Ok!  The salad was great and just what I wanted!

We had to wait about 45 minutes for the train back to Paris.  Part of a mural that decorates the path underneath the train tracks 

Gare St Lazare—back in Paris.

Windy, overcast all day but good company and conversation!  Thank you, Michael!

Jour 4—le lift ne marche pas!