Maudetour : in the heart of impressionist country

Since 1840, various groups of artists – followers of such luminaries as Daubigny, Corot, Daumier, and Jules Dupre – settled in the area of Maudetour to paint scenes along the Oise River and in the surrounding countryside. They had an uncanny ability to capture the unique ways that sunlight illuminates the landscapes of this enchanted region.

In 1871, Claude Monet settled in the town of Argenteuil on the banks of the Seine. It was in this area that he, Manet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, Cezanne, and Berthe Morisot all experimented with the revolutionary painting technique that came to be known as Impressionism. Monet loved the region and eventually settled permanently at Giverny, his celebrated country home where he painted continuously for the last 43 years of his life.

Gauguin and Van Gogh – and, later, in the twentieth century, Braque, Suzanne Valadon, Utrillo, Vlaminck, and Marquet – each fell in love with the region, capturing in their works the constantly fluctuating light of the Vexin region. They depicted in their paintings the historic charm of the nearby villages and the beauty of the Seine and Oise River valleys.

The landscapes of the region around the Château de Maudetour have thus been immortalized in paintings now located in museums throughout the world. Each year tourists from all over the world come here to see the picturesque settings where these paintings were produced – the true birthplace of Impressionism.