Château d'Auvers

The elegant château of Auvers, on the banks of the Oise in the heart of the small village of Auvers-sur-Oise, was built in 1635 for an Italian banker in the entourage of Marie de' Medici. At the end of the 17th century Jean de Lery, a royal counsellor, turned this Italian-style pavilion into a French château. Owned by the Prince of Conti before the Revolution, it inspired Vincent van Gogh in June 1890 to paint a little-known picture, 'Le Château d'Auvers au coucher de soleil'.

Bought in 1987 by the Val-d'Oise département, the estate was fully restored before the opening, in May 1994, of the multimedia tour 'Voyage au temps des impressionnistes', a tribute to the painters who left their mark on the Oise valley: Daubigny, Pissarro, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Monet and others.

In the château's rooms, the settings of 19th-century Parisian life and the favourite themes of the Impressionists are recreated with special effects, period music, voices, old films and authentic objects: fashion, café-concerts, steam train journeys, country outings, the river and the Normandy coast. Painting techniques are explained, and a 3D film, 'Le Regard de Vincent', recalls Van Gogh's last days in the village. There are no original works, but the projection of some 500 paintings lets visitors 'enter' them.

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