The château houses paintings of the masters of Impressionism: Monet, Van Gogh, Pissarro and Cézanne. A fifteen-room tour of the castle reveals 600 works of art presented in the Impressionist style, using audiovisual and theatrical techniques. The excursion also features interior decoration, as well as the castle’s formal gardens.

In the 1980s, the gardens of the château were overgrown with weeds and wild flowers, smothering the Century-old charm. However, the department of Val d'Oise hired the designer Jean Saint Bris to revive the castle’s splendour. In 1994, it opened its doors to a unique walk-through show 'Voyage au Temps des Impressionnistes'. The Festival of the Iris is now also held each year in May. Many visitors also enjoy lunch in the orangery or guinguette, or on the terrace of the château’s restaurant.

The Château d'Auvers-sur-Oise is set in the beautiful village of Auvers-sur-Oise, only a thirty-minute drive from Paris. Vincent van Gogh spent his final months in Auvers-sur-Oise before tragically taking his life. In fact, the small cemetery just outside the town still is the site where he and his brother, Theo, are buried in simple graves. One can get a very strong impression of Van Gogh’s art work as one climbs the hills above his grave site, with wind blowing in the fields of corn and the streching horizons of the Vexin plateau. Actually, Auvers remains just as it was in the days of Van Gogh, Pissarro, Rousseau and Cézanne.

Other artists adorned Auvers with their inspiration as well. Auvers’ small 12th-century church on the hill was inspiration for the French poet Verlaine, who wrote about its “purple-tinged walls and stained-glass windows the colour of the sky.” A music festival has also been hosted in Auvers for twenty-six years with the likes of Mstilav Rostropovitch and Barbara Hendricks. The festival, coined as ‘a season of musical events’, runs from April to June, ranging from vocal and piano works to chamber music, violin concerts and opera performances. Even the well-known names of Natalie Dessay and Evgeny Kissin have graced the festival. Great pianists such as, Renaud Capucon and Gautier Capucon, Jean Frédéric Neuburger and Nicolas Anglich also appear at the Auvres festival.

The rich history, nostalgia and beauty of Auvers will make your visit to Château d'Auvers-sur-Oise even more rewarding, as its ambiance sends you back to the days of the Impressionists.