Chez Emil Zolan in Medan
Copyrighted in May 1878 the amazing Émile Zola was allowed to acquire, as he wrote to Flaubert, a “modest country retreat,” a “rabbit hut” on the banks of the Seine. Every literary success is an opportunity to increase the settlement, the square tower girl it’s the one where he sets up his giant office with a huge window overlooking the garden. Hexagonal tower Germinal welcomes a billiard table and a “peacock canopy,” a fine stained glass window signed by master glazier Henri Baboneau of Nantes, similar to the one described in the passage. Treatment. Charpentier’s pavilion (its publisher) has guests: Cézanne, Goncourt Maupassant, Manet, Pissarro. On the first floor, the blue and white kitchen is decorated with a stained glass window that represents the iconic image of “My Shoes”. The amazing, who “likes to eat bread”. 12 of the 20 volumes of the Rougon-Macquart series were written here.
Practice. Maison Zola can be visited by booking through this website, email Wednesday to Sunday: €9.50 or €8 (groups).
We do not miss. supported by Maison Zola, the must-see Dreyfus Museum. Thanks to caricatures, newspapers, we immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of the time and better understand Zola’s struggle, which led him to ruin and probably killed him. No reservation required. €5, on sale from 9am and 5pm (closes at 6pm).
Our advice: plan an entire morning or afternoon. The Dreyfus Museum is fascinating and you have to spend time there to read everything. Then walk in the garden, then on the banks of the Seine opposite the island of Plata, where Zola bought land. Having acquired a Norwegian chalet for the Universal Exhibition of 1878, he brought it to the island and christened it “Le Paradou”. He reached Nana by rowing a boat.
Elsa at Triolet and Louis Aragon at Saint-Arnoul-en-Yvelin
On the bed in the bedroom, two small wooden boxes and shelves, pearl. More than writing, it was selling jewelry that allowed the young couple of Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet to live in Paris in the 1930s. It was he who had the idea to create jewelry for Paul Poiret, Madeleine Vionet, Elsa. Schiaparelli… whom Louis Aragon was going to market in his little suitcase as a marketer. When the couple acquired this 12th century mille century and its 6-hectare garden in 1951 is known as Elsa. The first woman to receive the Goncourt (1944), she is madly in love with her poet-novelist-journalist-confrontationist husband.
For twenty years, he decorated and restored the mill, diverting and repurposing mismatched objects, such as these Tahitian paddles, which have been turned into lamp posts. 30,000 books line the walls, and in a secret locked cabinet he hides the Black Series books he devours in his insomnia. He collapsed in his garden a few days before the arrival of summer in 1970. The mill passages remained blocked today, Tuesday, June 16. In the huge living room, the waterfall of the mill, the wheel of which was removed a long time ago, still flows. Their presence in Elsa and Aragon’s office is palpable. Their love fills the rooms, as on this box of panties, where a gold plate bears the date they met, November 6, 1928, an anniversary they celebrated to the end.
Practice.guided tour only (45 to 60 minutes), Monday through Friday at 4:00 p.m. €9.50 (reduced rate €7.50). Saturday, Sunday and public holidays: 14:30, 15:30, 16:30 or 17:30. The entrance fee includes the visit to the park and the sculptures. But the park can be visited without a house (€5) or with a guide for 1eh Sunday of every month at 16:00 (€9.50). Book absolutely before you come, the rooms are small and the number of visitors is limited.
Our advice: Note the details in the kitchen and the blue plate hanging in the hallway above. You will definitely recognize the touch of Pablo Picasso.
We do not miss. on a small hill, the grave of two husbands towards the garden. The writing is moving. “When side by side we are finally reclining figures, the alliance of our books will unite us for better and for worse in this future that has been our dream and our main concern, you and me. (Elsa).
Chez Ivan Turgeniev in Bugival
Boots rustle the fallen leaves of the trees and the silence of the Jonchère forest park is soothing. This wooden chalet with its balustrade suddenly appears in an inimitable half-Russian, half-Swiss style, in stark contrast to the castles, mansions and mansions of the surrounding hills. Rare manuscripts, Cyrillic books, piano, paintings, furniture are intact. Author’s bedroom First love (1860) reorganized by the École Boulle. From his office he had a breathtaking view of the Palladian villa of his beautiful friend (lover?), the singer Pauline Viardeau, with whom he was madly in love but married. The moving collection will delight all lovers of Russian literature.
Practice. by car, entrance via rue de la Croix-aux-Vents. Park at the very end in the small free car park and then walk (350m) along the path. Information at the Bougival tourist information office: 01 39 69 21 23. Open 1eh and 3e Saturdays of the month (14.00-17.00), 8 euros, 5 euros (12-17 years old). Saturday, October 29, free entry 2-5 p.m. Reopening 1:eh April 2023.
We do not miss. always in Bugival…
- No. 5, Ivan Turgueniev Street, where Georges Bizet created Carmen. The house belonging to the department is awaiting restoration. The crowdfunding campaign has been launched here: dartagnans.fr/carmen.
- No. 1, avenue de la Drion, where Bert Morisot painted his daughter Julie and her husband Eugene Manet surrounded by bonfires. At the end of 2023, an interpretation center of his works will be opened.
- Number 3, pier Rennequin Sualem. Built under a directory, this clapboard residence belonged to Mistingett’s brother. The reviewer of the Moulin Rouge and Casino de Paris often stayed there, especially with Maurice Chevalier. Private residence, it cannot be visited.
Chez André Derain in Chambourcy
“La Roseraie”, a 17th century mansione century, purchased by the Derain couple in 1935, no longer furnished. It also takes all the talent of Louvre graduate Béatrice Montfort to revive this self-taught contemporary of Vlaminck, Matisse and Picasso. More than a visit, this is a fascinating conference that sheds light on the work of a man who has gone through two wars and several pictorial currents, unable to be categorized into one style over another.
Fauvist, cubist, classicist, realist… He was also a sculptor, ceramist, painter of sets and costumes for ballets and theaters, engraver, illustrator, writer, as evidenced by passing through the first floor of his eclectic studio, which the sun illuminates from morning to evening.. On the first floor drawings brighten the walls of the magnificent rotunda, which overlooks the garden and its small pond lined with hundred-year-old black poplars.
Practice. €10, €5 (ages 8-17). Visit during registration, one week per month, reservation at the tourist office. Free entrance to the park, from April 16 to October 14, from 8 am to 8:30 pm. From October 15 to April 15 from 8 am to 6 pm.
Our advice: by car, park on Rue André Derain or its extension, Rue Chaude, in the blue zone (1h30). Enter from the park (Rue Chaude, in front of the post office) to discover the beauty of the house in its green setting. The entrance at 64 Main Street is much less impressive.
Source: Le Figaro
