Visiting Auvers-sur-Oise on the Footsteps of Van Gogh

The castle of Auvers-sur-Oise dates back from the 17th century. Inside, there is a journey following the footsteps of the impressionist painters with videos showing where they traveled and got inspired for their paintings. There are comments showing how they were painting in open air which was a new technique and habit back then. You can also walk around the beautiful gardens of the castle.
Open hours Tuesday - Sunday 10:00 - 18:00 Closed on Mondays.

The house of Docteur Gachet was painted by Van Gogh and Cezanne. The doctor also took care of Van Gogh when he was sick. He received several famous impressionist painters. You can now visit the house that has been restored and lives again with projections that try to recreate the atmosphere of back then. You can also feel this in the nice garden.
Open hours Wednesday - Sunday 10:30 - 18:30 (from end of March to end of October).

The Ravoux Inn is also called the house of Van Gogh. This is where he lived for the last 70 days of his life. You can still see his room like it was, it is also the place where he died on the 29th of July 1890. It is the only house of Van Gogh that is still like it was back then.
It is also still an artist caffe with 19th century decoration where you can have a drink and feel the atmosphere in a traditional authentic setting where the painters went before as well. So you can have lunch here with traditional food and good wines.
Open hours Wednesday - Sunday 12:00 - 17:30 Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. You can book your visit and your table on their website.

The Daubigny Museum is housed in the Colombieres manor built in 1626. The museum has paintings, watercolors, drawings, engravings from the 19th century showing the birth of the impressionist movement. There is also some contemporary art in the museum.
Open hours Tuesday - Friday 14:00 - 17:30 (until 18:30 on Wednesday) Saturday - Sunday 10:30 - 12:30, 14:00 - 17:30 Tuesday - Sunday in July and August 10:30 - 12:30, 14:00 - 17:30 (until 18:30 on Wednesday).

The house workshop of Daubigny is classified as a historical monument. You can see paintings on the walls from Daubigny, his son Karl, Daumier and Corot. In the garden, you can see the boat workshop that he used to paint as close as he could to nature. Later on, Monet followed his example.
Open hours Saturday - Sunday 10:30 - 12:30, 14:00 - 18:30. Try to do this road trip on the week-end as the workshop is only open on the week-end and closed from Monday to Friday.

This is the museum of Absinthe. Absinthe was a very strong alcohol very popular amongst the artists in the 19th century. You will get some explanations and you can also do some tasting.
More information on the website.

The church Notre-Dame is called Van Gogh church because it became famous through Van Gogh painting. It is one of the most famous paintings from Van Gogh and it is now in the Orsay Museum in Paris. The church dates back from the 12th and 13th century and has a Romano-gothic style with a quadrangular clocktower.

Have a walk just a bit outside of the town center of Auvers-sur-Oise and you will see the wheat fields that Van Gogh painted. The great thing is that everywhere in town, you can see reproductions of the paintings of Van Gogh in front of the real setting.

Then you will reach the cemetery where you can see the grave of Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo right next to him. His brother was pretty close to Vincent and died not long after him. Other artists are also buried here.

Walk back to the town center of Auvers-sur-Oise to end this "pilgrimage" following Van Gogh footsteps. In this park, you will find a sculpture by Zadkine in tribute to the painter.

Have dinner in this nice restaurant. The name of the restaurant is a pun in French between the name of the town Auvers which also means to the glass of wine if it's written like "au verre de vin". So you will get good choice of wine here and great French traditional food.
Open hours Monday - Friday 12:00 - 14:00, 19:00 - 23:00 Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 23:00 Closed on Tuesday night and Wednesday. You can book a table on their website.

Spend the night at hotel des Iris. It is located right across the street from Van Gogh last house. All the rooms are decorated with the impressionist spirit.
Book a room on their website.