Auberge Ravoux
Encyclopedia
The Auberge Ravoux is a French historic landmark located in the heart of the village of Auvers-sur-Oise
. It is known as the House of Van Gogh (Maison de Van Gogh) because the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh
spent the last 70 days of his life as a lodger at the auberge. During his stay at Auvers, Van Gogh created more than 80 paintings and 64 sketches before shooting himself in the chest on 27 July 1890 and dying two days later on 29 July 1890. The auberge has been restored and is now a museum and tourist attraction. The room where Van Gogh lived and died has been restored and can be viewed by the public.
. Various parts of earlier buildings were incorporated into the auberge – including an entire eighteenth-century wall. The auberge was ideally situated in front of the Town Hall. The daughter of Mr Levert, the original owner, put the centrality of the location to use by opening a retail wine business. The picturesqueness of the village, as well as its proximity and railway connection to Paris, made it a popular destination for artists and during the mid- to late-nineteenth-century an influx of painters, such as Daubigny, Cézanne, Pissarro, Daumier and Corot
, saw the village become an artist’s colony comparable to Barbizon
.
In 1889 the lease on the house was taken on by Arthur Gustave Ravoux who transformed the business into an inn popular with the artistic community in Auvers. During Van Gogh’s stay, the rooms were all occupied by Dutch and American painters. The Cuban artist Nicolás Martínez de Valdivielso, who lived nearby, took his meals at the auberge with Van Gogh.
Van Gogh arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise on 20 May 1890. He had spent a year in a convalescent home in Saint-Rémy de Provence and wanted to settle in the North, closer to Paris. Camille Pissarro
, a friend of Van Gogh’s, suggested that he go to Auvers-sur-Oise where Dr Gachet lived and could keep an eye on Van Gogh. Dr Gachet had treated mental patients before and was interested in and sympathetic to the arts. The doctor was immortalized in a portrait Van Gogh made of him in June of that year, which fetched a record price of $82.5 million in 1990.
Upon arrival in Auvers, Van Gogh decided to stay at the Auberge Ravoux, mainly because it was cheaper than the hotel proposed by Dr. Gachet, which charged 6 francs a day for full board accommodation. At the Auberge Ravoux, Vincent paid 3 francs 50 a day, half board, and rented room 5, a tiny attic room measuring 75 square feet (7 m²) and containing only a bed, a dressing table and a built-in cupboard. He stored his paintings and drawings in a shed at the back. He became acquainted with Arthur Ravoux and his family and painted a portrait of Adeline Ravoux, the eldest daughter of Ravoux, on more than one occasion. Van Gogh was charmed by the village and in a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh
, praised its old thatched roofs and colours, calling it “profoundly beautiful”. He found the juxtaposition between the rustic country life and recent modern additions such as the railway and the bridge on the River Oise fascinating. He was in good health, covering large distances with his painting gear and painting as much as he could.
Despite his love of his new surroundings and his feverish activity, on the morning of 27 July 1890, Van Gogh walked into a field and shot himself in the chest. The bullet was deflected by a rib and lodged in his stomach. He survived the impact and managed to walk back to the auberge. Adeline Ravoux later recalled:
The following morning two gendarmes arrived to enquire into a rumour about a suicide attempt. One of them began to question Van Gogh in an aggressive manner. Van Gogh replied: Arthur Ravoux dissuaded the gendarme from questioning him further.
Two days later Vincent succumbed to his wounds in the presence of his brother Theo van Gogh. The body was laid out in the back room of the auberge. The coffin was made by Vincent Levert, whose son Raoul Levert was the subject of Vincent's Child with an orange
. Émile Bernard described the coffin as covered in a simple white cloth and strewn with yellow flowers, His easel, folding stool and brushes were placed in front of the coffin. The room was decorated with Vincent's paintings and drawings. Anton Hirschig
, a fellow lodger at the auberge, later recalled them,
while Adeline Ravoux mentioned The Church at Auvers
, Irises
, Daubigny's Garden and Child with an orange
in her memoir. Bernard mentioned The Pietà and Prisoners exercising,
Hirschig also recalled that the coffin was poorly made and continuously leaked fluid, forcing them to use carbol as it was so hot.
Van Gogh was buried on 30 July at the municipal cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise at a funeral attended by Theo van Gogh
, Andries Bonger
, Charles Laval
, Lucien Pissarro
, Émile Bernard
, Julien Tanguy
and Dr. Gachet
amongst some 20 family and friends, as well as a number of locals (including Arthur Ravoux). There was no funeral service because the Catholic abbé declined to host one for a suicide. He could not, however, refuse a burial because the cemetery was a public one. Dr. Gachet delivered an emotional address at the funeral. The funeral was described by Émile Bernard in a moving letter to Albert Aurier
and Bernard later painted a picture of it from memory.
Van Gogh's death and funeral was reported by the local newspaper Le Régional in its edition dated 7 August 1890. The report makes it clear that Van Gogh suffered at the end, expiring after "terrible suffering" (dans d'atroces souffrances), an account confirmed by Hirschig in a 1911 letter to Albert Plasschaert. Theo recorded Vincent's last words as "the sadness will last forever" in a letter to their sister Elisabeth dated 5 August 1890.
Thereafter room 5 was tainted by his suicide and never rented out again. Van Gogh’s stay at the Auberge Ravoux had been one of prolific creation: in 70 days more than 80 paintings and 64 sketches saw the light of day, amongst which were the Portrait of Dr. Gachet
, Wheatfield with Crows, Auvers Town Hall on 14 July 1890
and Daubigny's Garden
:
by Vincente Minelli was filmed in Auvers and The House of Van Gogh was featured, garnering much publicity for the location.
Auvers-sur-Oise
Auvers-sur-Oise is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is associated with several famous artists, the most prominent being Vincent van Gogh.-History:...
. It is known as the House of Van Gogh (Maison de Van Gogh) because the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
spent the last 70 days of his life as a lodger at the auberge. During his stay at Auvers, Van Gogh created more than 80 paintings and 64 sketches before shooting himself in the chest on 27 July 1890 and dying two days later on 29 July 1890. The auberge has been restored and is now a museum and tourist attraction. The room where Van Gogh lived and died has been restored and can be viewed by the public.
Early history (1876–1889)
The auberge was built in the mid-nineteenth-century as a family home on the main road leading to PontoisePontoise
Pontoise is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise.-Administration:...
. Various parts of earlier buildings were incorporated into the auberge – including an entire eighteenth-century wall. The auberge was ideally situated in front of the Town Hall. The daughter of Mr Levert, the original owner, put the centrality of the location to use by opening a retail wine business. The picturesqueness of the village, as well as its proximity and railway connection to Paris, made it a popular destination for artists and during the mid- to late-nineteenth-century an influx of painters, such as Daubigny, Cézanne, Pissarro, Daumier and Corot
Corot
Corot may refer to:* Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French landscape painter * COROT, a space mission with the dual aims of finding extrasolar planets and performing asteroseismology* COROT-7, a dwarf star in the Monoceros constellation...
, saw the village become an artist’s colony comparable to Barbizon
Barbizon
Barbizon is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest.-Art history:The Barbizon school of painters is named after the village; Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet, leaders of the school, made their homes and died in the...
.
Van Gogh’s stay (20 May 1890 – 29 July 1890) and suicide
Van Gogh arrived in Auvers-sur-Oise on 20 May 1890. He had spent a year in a convalescent home in Saint-Rémy de Provence and wanted to settle in the North, closer to Paris. Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
, a friend of Van Gogh’s, suggested that he go to Auvers-sur-Oise where Dr Gachet lived and could keep an eye on Van Gogh. Dr Gachet had treated mental patients before and was interested in and sympathetic to the arts. The doctor was immortalized in a portrait Van Gogh made of him in June of that year, which fetched a record price of $82.5 million in 1990.
Upon arrival in Auvers, Van Gogh decided to stay at the Auberge Ravoux, mainly because it was cheaper than the hotel proposed by Dr. Gachet, which charged 6 francs a day for full board accommodation. At the Auberge Ravoux, Vincent paid 3 francs 50 a day, half board, and rented room 5, a tiny attic room measuring 75 square feet (7 m²) and containing only a bed, a dressing table and a built-in cupboard. He stored his paintings and drawings in a shed at the back. He became acquainted with Arthur Ravoux and his family and painted a portrait of Adeline Ravoux, the eldest daughter of Ravoux, on more than one occasion. Van Gogh was charmed by the village and in a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh
Theo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
, praised its old thatched roofs and colours, calling it “profoundly beautiful”. He found the juxtaposition between the rustic country life and recent modern additions such as the railway and the bridge on the River Oise fascinating. He was in good health, covering large distances with his painting gear and painting as much as he could.
Despite his love of his new surroundings and his feverish activity, on the morning of 27 July 1890, Van Gogh walked into a field and shot himself in the chest. The bullet was deflected by a rib and lodged in his stomach. He survived the impact and managed to walk back to the auberge. Adeline Ravoux later recalled:
The following morning two gendarmes arrived to enquire into a rumour about a suicide attempt. One of them began to question Van Gogh in an aggressive manner. Van Gogh replied: Arthur Ravoux dissuaded the gendarme from questioning him further.
Two days later Vincent succumbed to his wounds in the presence of his brother Theo van Gogh. The body was laid out in the back room of the auberge. The coffin was made by Vincent Levert, whose son Raoul Levert was the subject of Vincent's Child with an orange
Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Vincent van Gogh enjoyed making Paintings of Children. He once said that it's the only thing that "excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Painting children, in particular represented rebirth and the infinite. Over his career Van Gogh...
. Émile Bernard described the coffin as covered in a simple white cloth and strewn with yellow flowers, His easel, folding stool and brushes were placed in front of the coffin. The room was decorated with Vincent's paintings and drawings. Anton Hirschig
Anton Hirschig
Antonius Matthias Hirschig , also known as Tony or Tom, was a Dutch artist who, as a young man, lodged with Vincent van Gogh at the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise at the time of Van Gogh's death in 1890.-Biography:Antonius Matthias Hirschig was born on 18 February 1867 in Naarden, a town in the...
, a fellow lodger at the auberge, later recalled them,
while Adeline Ravoux mentioned The Church at Auvers
The Church at Auvers
The Church at Auvers was painted by Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh in 1890.-History:...
, Irises
Irises (painting)
Irises is a painting by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. Irises was painted while Vincent van Gogh was living at the asylum at Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, in the last year before his death in 1890....
, Daubigny's Garden and Child with an orange
Paintings of Children (Van Gogh series)
Vincent van Gogh enjoyed making Paintings of Children. He once said that it's the only thing that "excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else." Painting children, in particular represented rebirth and the infinite. Over his career Van Gogh...
in her memoir. Bernard mentioned The Pietà and Prisoners exercising,
Hirschig also recalled that the coffin was poorly made and continuously leaked fluid, forcing them to use carbol as it was so hot.
Van Gogh was buried on 30 July at the municipal cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise at a funeral attended by Theo van Gogh
Theo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
, Andries Bonger
Andries Bonger
Andries Bonger, nicknamed "Dries", was Johanna van Gogh-Bonger's favorite brother. Bonger was a friend of his future brother-in-law Theo van Gogh in Paris. Through Andries, Jo and Theo met...
, Charles Laval
Charles Laval
Charles Laval was a French painter born March 17, 1862 in Paris and who died April 27, 1894. He is associated with the Synthetic movement and Pont-Aven School, and he was a contemporary and friend of Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. Gauguin created a portrait of him in 1886 looking at one of...
, Lucien Pissarro
Lucien Pissarro
Lucien Pissarro was a landscape painter, printmaker, wood engraver and designer and printer of fine books. His landscape paintings employ techniques of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, but he also exhibited with Les XX. Apart from his landscapes he painted only a few still-lifes and family...
, Émile Bernard
Émile Bernard
Émile Henri Bernard is known as a Post-Impressionist painter who had artistic friendships with Van Gogh, Gauguin and Eugene Boch, and at a later time, Cézanne. Most of his notable work was accomplished at a young age, in the years 1886 through 1897. He is also associated with Cloisonnism and...
, Julien Tanguy
Portrait of Père Tanguy
Portrait of Père Tanguy, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1887, is one of his three paintings of Julien Tanguy. The three works demonstrate a progression in Van Gogh's artistic style after his arrival in Paris. The first is somber, and formed from a simple composition. The second introduces Van...
and Dr. Gachet
Paul Gachet
Paul-Ferdinand Gachet was a French physician most famous for treating the painter Vincent van Gogh during his last weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise. Gachet was a great supporter of artists and the Impressionist movement...
amongst some 20 family and friends, as well as a number of locals (including Arthur Ravoux). There was no funeral service because the Catholic abbé declined to host one for a suicide. He could not, however, refuse a burial because the cemetery was a public one. Dr. Gachet delivered an emotional address at the funeral. The funeral was described by Émile Bernard in a moving letter to Albert Aurier
Albert Aurier
G. Albert Aurier was a poet, art critic and painter, devoted to Symbolism.Son of a notary born in Châteauroux, Indre, Aurier went to Paris in 1883 to study law, but soon his attention was drawn to art and literature, and he began to contribute to Symolist periodicals...
and Bernard later painted a picture of it from memory.
Van Gogh's death and funeral was reported by the local newspaper Le Régional in its edition dated 7 August 1890. The report makes it clear that Van Gogh suffered at the end, expiring after "terrible suffering" (dans d'atroces souffrances), an account confirmed by Hirschig in a 1911 letter to Albert Plasschaert. Theo recorded Vincent's last words as "the sadness will last forever" in a letter to their sister Elisabeth dated 5 August 1890.
Thereafter room 5 was tainted by his suicide and never rented out again. Van Gogh’s stay at the Auberge Ravoux had been one of prolific creation: in 70 days more than 80 paintings and 64 sketches saw the light of day, amongst which were the Portrait of Dr. Gachet
Portrait of Dr. Gachet
Portrait of Dr. Gachet is one of the most revered paintings by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It depicts Dr. Paul Gachet, who took care of him during the final months of his life...
, Wheatfield with Crows, Auvers Town Hall on 14 July 1890
The Town Hall at Auvers
The Town Hall at Auvers is a painting by Vincent van Gogh, executed mid-July 1890. It is based on the view Van Gogh had when he stepped out on the street from the Auberge Ravoux, where he stayed....
and Daubigny's Garden
Daubigny's Garden
Daubigny's Garden, painted three times by Vincent van Gogh, depicts the garden of the late Charles-François Daubigny, a painter whom Van Gogh admired throughout his life....
:
1890–1985: The House of Van Gogh
The Ravoux family left Auvers-sur-Oise in 1892. The period around the turn of the century saw the beginning of a new era of modernity, notably the installation of gas street lamps and telephones in Auvers. After the first exhibitions of his work in the late 1880s, Van Gogh gradually became an artist of international renown and, eventually, a household name. In the years between 1901 and 1915, major exhibitions of his work were held in cities ranging from Paris to New York. Around this time, the Blot family, who were the leaseholders of the auberge at that time, started inviting people to view Vincent’s room. In 1926 the name of the auberge was changed to The House of Van Gogh. The period during and after the Second World War saw a decline in interest in the auberge, but in 1952 it was bought by Roger and Micheline Tagliana who restored Vincent’s room with the help of Adeline Ravoux. The film Lust for LifeLust for Life (film)
Lust for Life is a MGM biographical film about the life of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, based on the 1934 novel by Irving Stone and adapted by Norman Corwin.It was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by John Houseman...
by Vincente Minelli was filmed in Auvers and The House of Van Gogh was featured, garnering much publicity for the location.