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Visiting the home of Vincent van Gogh

Posted by / June 1, 2010

Due to the wonderfulness of my friends in Paris, my wife and I were able to visit Auberge Ravoux, the last home of Vincent van Gogh. It is located thirty kilometers north of Paris in a village called Auvers-sur-Oise. You can read a biography of Van Gogh to learn more about the artist. One interesting fact: he only sold one painting.

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These are souvenir keys that open the front gate and the single hotel room on the property.

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Dominque-Charles Janssens is the president of Institut Van Gogh, the organization that operates the facility. He is the most passionate person that I’ve ever met—and I’ve met many passionate people in my life. His dream is that people remember van Gogh and apply Van Gogh’s principles of art and living to their lives—click here to read some of Van Gogh’s best quotations.

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This is looking into the room where Van Gogh lived the last weeks of his life. It is seven square meters and has no window. He finished seventy-five paintings from May to July, 1890 while living here which means that bloggers who complain about having to come up with a lot of content are wimps.

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You can watch a ten-minute documentary about Van Gogh here.

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View out of a second floor window.

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This is the dining room.

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Egg in reduced red wine.

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Lamb that was cooked for seven hours and a side dish of potatoes in cream.

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Dessert #1.

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Dessert #2.

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Neither had a chance.

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But then dessert #3 showed up: a fantastic chocolate dish.

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When people sign the guestbook, they do more than a signature! I’m going to have to “brush up” on my autograph.

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Walking past the second dining room.

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Inside the second dining room.

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Meeting room.

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Library about the meeting room.

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A little champagne from the boss.

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Inside the only room of the “hotel.”

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Bathroom.

Artists who visit often paint on the restaurant’s tablecloth.

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The village church and the painting that it inspired: “The Church at Auvers.” However, the church would not allow Van Gogh to be buried in its cemetery because he committed suicide.

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This is the gate to the cemetery where Vincent and Theodore van Gogh are buried.

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The context of their graves—in stark contrast to the churches, palaces, and crypts of royalty, politicians, and church leaders.

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The corn field surrounding the cemetery.

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“Wheat Fields at Auvers Under Clouded Sky”

My special thanks to Dominique Gibert, the publisher of The Art of the Start and Reality Check in French for making this fantastic visit to Auberge Ravoux possible. I highly recommend that you visit it when you are in Paris. Just tell Dominque that Guy sent you.

More websites and blogs about art.

Comments are off for this post.

  • Josh L

    This is an interesting article. I especially appreciate the pictures. Van Gogh was an unusual man but worth an inquiry.

  • This was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you 😉 I hope to visit in Sept. 2015.