Champagne · Côte des Bar · Artist's memory
Renoir in Essoyes
A house bought for Aline, a workshop at the bottom of the garden, landscapes of vineyards and a family who chooses the village as their final resting place: Essoyes tells Renoir about the places where he lived.
Renoir does not paint a tourist setting: he observes the simple volumes, the roofs and the light of a village that has become familiar.
A place in four stages
Read Essoyes as a biography
The town not only retains a famous address. House, workshop, streets, river and cemetery form a continuous story where the man, the painter and several generations of Renoir meet.
The village
Renoir discovers a rural Champagne made of vineyards, tight houses and changing light.
The house
Purchased in 1896, it became the summer home and the center of family life.
The workshop
Built in 1906 at the bottom of the garden, it separates the painter's work from domestic hustle and bustle.
Memory
The cemetery brings together Renoir, Aline and several descendants in the village they had chosen.
The origin of the link
Aline Charigot brings Renoir back to her native village
Aline Charigot was born in Essoyes in 1859. A seamstress and model, she entered the work of Renoir before becoming his wife in 1890. Her presence very early linked the Parisian painter to Champagne: she introduced him to its landscapes, its inhabitants and a pace of life far from the salons of the capital.
The official Essoyes website places Renoir's first visit in 1888. He is seduced by the light, the hillsides and the simplicity of the village. However, this is not a definitive withdrawal from the artistic world. The family circulates between Paris, Essoyes and, later, the South. Essoyes becomes an anchor point, a place where we return and where we receive.
In Aline's portraits, Renoir never completely separates intimacy and painting. The model is at the same time wife, mother, familiar figure and plastic presence. In Essoyes, this relationship continues in the house she wanted to acquire and in the family scenes which nourish the painter's work.
Gradual adoption
From the first visit to the family home
Discovery of Essoyes
Aline convinces Renoir to come to her native village. He finds landscapes, models and tranquility there.
Marriage with Aline
Their union formalizes a family history already present in several major paintings.
First property
The couple bought the house in Essoyes. At fifty-five, Renoir became an owner for the first time.
A workshop in the garden
The new construction offers more space, light and calm for working.
The choice of the final resting place
After his death in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Renoir was buried in Essoyes in accordance with his wishes.
The Family Home
A resort that has become heritage
The residence purchased in 1896 is not a museum imagined after the fact. It was a place of meals, vacations, childhood and reunions passed down to great-grandchildren.
The Ource, the streets and the hillsides
The village transformed into a motif
Restored in the spirit of 1900, the house opened to the public in 2017. The presentation seeks less to reconstruct a spectacular decor than to restore a presence: furniture, circulation of rooms, kitchen, dining room and family memories make you feel the daily life. The old dining room also hosts temporary exhibitions meeting museum standards.
Above all, the house tells of a double belonging. Renoir remains the recognized painter who works with merchants, collectors and museums; in Essoyes, he also became a neighbor, father and owner. The residence gives a domestic scale to a career often summed up by major impressionist exhibitions.
The workplace
The 1906 workshop, at the bottom of the garden
Renoir had the workshop built away from home. The choice is practical: it obtains a larger room and prevents work, visitors and paintings from invading the lives of the children. The path between the two buildings materializes the transition between the family man and the artist.
The site's educational file describes a ground floor intended for the equipment and drying of the canvases. Upstairs, light becomes the main element. The visitor does not discover a frozen setting around a unique masterpiece, but the concrete conditions of the painting: space, tools, windows and relationship with the garden.
The workshop also recalls Renoir's late period. Despite the joint pain which limited his movements, he continued to paint. Essoyes is therefore not only associated with rural youth; he accompanies the artist into maturity, before the climate of the South takes on more importance.
Painting around the house
Essoyes is never a single landscape
Misty morning, spring, farms, red roofs and surrounding roads: Renoir transforms daily proximity into a laboratory of light.
Landscape of Essoyes, early in the morning
The cold values and the luminous veil make the village a sensation before making a topography.
See reproduction →
Village houses, red roofs
The walls and roofs become large colored masses, linked by trees and slope.
See reproduction →
Spring in Essoyes
The light vegetation dissolves the contours and gives the rural landscape an almost musical mobility.
See reproduction →A family of artists
Essoyes' memory goes beyond the painter alone
The Renoir sons extended the name in theater, cinema and ceramics. The village thus preserves the history of an artistic lineage, not just that of an impressionist master.
Pierre Renoir
A theater and cinema actor, he belongs to the first generation which transforms pictorial heritage into stage adventure.
Jean Renoir
Major filmmaker, author in particular of The Great Illusion and The Rules of the Game, he makes the family gaze a language of cinema.
Claude "Coco" Renoir
Born in Essoyes, he became a ceramist and also worked in cinema. His birth directly anchored the next generation in the village.
Last resting place
The cemetery closes the family route
None of the main members of the family died in Essoyes, but several chose to rest there. After his death in 1919 in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Renoir was buried in the village cemetery in accordance with his wishes. Two nearby burials bear family memory.
The first, decorated with a bust of Renoir created by Richard Guino, brings together the painter, his sons Pierre and Jean as well as Dido Freire, Jean's second wife. The second brings together Aline, her mother Thérèse Émilie Maire, Claude dit Coco and Claude junior, son of Pierre.
The visit therefore ends far from the workshop, but without leaving the history of creation. Painting, theater, cinema, sculpture and ceramics are symbolically found in the same village. Essoyes becomes less a sanctuary than a place of continuity.
Essoyes Collection
Six landscapes to extend the visit
These reproductions allow us to compare the seasons, the framing and the ways in which Renoir simplifies houses, farms and vegetation.
Landscape of Essoyes, early in the morning
An atmospheric reading of the village in clear and fresh values.
Discover →
Landscape in Essoyes
The relief, trees and buildings come together in a supple touch.
Discover →
Landscape around Essoyes
A more open campaign where color organizes depth.
Discover →Village houses
The constructed volumes give the landscape its main rhythm.
Discover →
The Essoyes Farm
Daily architecture integrated into vegetation and light.
Discover →Spring in Essoyes
The clear season transforms trees and paths into colorful vibration.
Discover →Sources and visit
Deepen Essoyes history
Family house
Purchase from 1896, transmission, restoration in the spirit of 1900 and opening to the public in 2017.
On the Renoir side →Visit route
Cultural center, house, workshop, village and general information about the Renoir family in Essoyes.
Essoyes official website →Cemetery
Organization of the two burials and Renoir's last wish.
Official notice →Aline Renoir
Marital status, birth in Essoyes, seamstress activity and marriage to Renoir.
Musée d'Orsay →Frequently asked questions
Renoir in Essoyes in eight responses
When did Renoir discover Essoyes?
The official website places her first visit in 1888. Aline Charigot, a native of the village, introduced her to the Côte des Bar and the Champagne countryside.
Why is Renoir moving to Essoyes?
He appreciates the light, the landscapes, the tranquility and the proximity of Aline's family. Essoyes becomes a summer residence and a regular place of work.
When was the family home purchased?
Renoir and Aline bought the house in 1896. It was the painter's first property, then aged fifty-five.
When was Renoir's workshop built?
The workshop was built in 1906 at the bottom of the garden. The ground floor is used for equipment and drying; the upper floor offers bright space for painting.
Which son of Renoir was born in Essoyes?
Claude Renoir, nicknamed Coco, was born in Essoyes on August 4, 1901. He notably became a ceramist.
Where is Renoir buried?
Renoir was buried in the Essoyes cemetery after his death in 1919 in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Several members of his family rest in two neighboring graves.
Are the house and workshop visited?
Yes. They are part of the "Du Côté des Renoir" cultural route. Visiting days, times and conditions must be checked on the official website before traveling.
Which paintings by Renoir represent Essoyes?
Renoir painted many landscapes of the village and its surroundings: houses with red roofs, farms, morning views and spring scenes are among the motifs associated with Essoyes.
0 comments