Maison Fournaise

The Maison Fournaise is a former open-air dance hall situated on Impressionists’ island in Chatou, in Yvelines, France.

Intellectual and artistic home, his house welcomed impressionistic painters and other striking artists of the time, such as Auguste Renoir who painted numerous paintings, portraits of the family Furnace, the landscapes of the surroundings, and in particular his famous painting, The Lunch of boaters there in 1881.

Maison Fournaise shelters at present a restaurant and a museum redrawing the time of the impressionism, through temporary exhibitions.

Alphonse Fournaise, the father, carpenter of boats, stemming from a family of bargemen and from masters of Pont in Chatou,  bought some buildings at the foot of the former bridge. He takes advantage of the fashion of the boating and quickly develops his business. By 1860, he begins the launch of the restaurant and proceeds to several constructions and additions to the building.

In 1877, he builds a wide balcony and a terrace opening on the Seine, immortalized by Renoir.

The Maison Fournaise becomes the favorite establishment of the artists, boaters and turbulent canotières. The whole family participates in the life of the House: the father, Alphonse, nicknamed the "Great admiral of Chatou », took care of the estate management and the organization of water festivals; the mother, Madam Fournaise watched over the stove ; the son, Alphonse, was in charge of the sale, the rent and the maintenance of boats; and finally, the daughter, " the soul of the House ", beautiful Alphonsine, the premature widow, friend, muse and confidante of the artists, who maintained with the painter Maurice Réalier-Dumas an idyll of more than fifty years.

The Island of the Impressionists

The artists are among the first customers of the Maison Fournaise. Place of the election of the impressionistic painters eager for open air, the Island of Chatou was also very busy with bohemians and writers, famous or not, of the second half of the XIXth century.

Edgar Degas was a dear friend of Alphonsine, Gustave Caillebotte liked developing his boats in the loop of the Seine , Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre Prins, are just a few of those who were in search of this mobile light on quivering waters of the river.

Renoir, who was said to be  « always stuck to Fournaise " painted numerous paintings : portraits of the family Furnace, landscapes of the surroundings, and in particular hisf infamous painting " The Lunch of boaters " in 1881. More than thirty of his paintings were painted in Chatou.

He is joined by Monet and Maupassant who often described the pleasures of the boating and the Maison Fournaise in its short stories. Réalier-Dumas decorated the north facade of the House (his restored fresco is still visible today). Gustave Caillebotte who possessed several boats introduced his friends to the boats and to the sail.

At the end of the century, the fashion changed. Bicyling became more usual that boating. However, Alphonse, the son, continued the business of boats until his death in 1910. Alphonsine closed the restaurant in 1905, and took tenants to occupy rooms. She peacefully decedes  in 1937, at the age of 91. After this, the House changed owners several times and slowly degraded until its repurchase by the City of Chatou in 1979.

After its repurchase, the House became registered on the Inventory of historic monuments in 1982. Then began the very important works of restoration. The House shelters a restaurant and the Fournaise museum, a commemorative site of the Island and a place of exhibition dedicated to the Impressionists today who so often represented the House.

In 1868, Pierre Auguste Renoir discovered in, it seems, Chatou and his banks during a walk with Prince Bibesco, a regular visitor of the Fournaise restaurant. 

That same year, with Claude Monet, he installs his easel in the cold baths of Grenouillère on the Island of Croissy, not far from Chatou. Both painters have not filled thrity years yet and create side by side a series of paintings on the matter. The water, the light and the boating are the themes of these two artists in the freed touch, which mark the maturity of the impressionistic movement. Chatou and its neighborhood enter, for ever, in the history books of art and boating.

For nearly fifteen years, from 1868 to 1884, Renoir came regularly to Chatou. He will say later: "I was always crammed at Fournaise, I found as many beautiful girls to paint as I could desire". In 1880, he wrote to a friend: "I have to stay a little longer in Chatou because of my painting. I would love for you to come for lunch. You will not regret your trip, it is the most beautiful place in the suburbs of Paris." This painting is Le Déjeuner des Canotiers painted in 1881 on the balcony of the restaurant, and now preserved in the Phillips Collection of Washington. Renoir painted about thirty paintings in Chatou, including the portrait of Alphonsine Fournaise, presented at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Some paintings of Renoir painted on the Ile des Impressionnistes and its surroundings:

La Grenouillère, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1869, Oil on canvas, Winterthur, Oskar Reinhardt collection

La Grenouillère, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1869, Oil on canvas, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum

Jeune Fille ceuillant des fleurs, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, circa 1874, Oil on canvas, Formerly owned: USA, Williamstown, Clark Institute

Alphonsine Fournaise, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1879, Oil on canvas, Paris, Musée d'Orsay

Les Rameurs de Chatou, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1879, Oil on canvas, USA, Washington - National Gallery

Le Déjeuner des Rameurs ou Au bord de la Rivière, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1879, Oil on canvas, USA, Chicago, The Art Institute

La Danse à la campagne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1882-1883, Oil on canvas, Paris, Musée d'Orsay

The Maison Fournaise museum keeps a collection of paintings and archives on the history of the house, the golden age of the banks of the Seine and the boaters.

It offers temporary exhibitions that allow us to discover an artist or a specific theme such as: Fauvism, Sidaner, Oars rowers, Felix Ziem.

Very soon, HISTORIAE SECRETS will offer you a virtual tour of the museum and discover the last temporary exhibition.

If you wish to be informed of the availability of this virtual visit, send your email address indicating the name of the museum to: [email protected]

You will be notified by email as soon as the visit is accessible.

CLOSURE OF THE MUSEUM FOURNAISE IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2016 for change of exhibition.

It will reopen in January 2017 with the exhibition "Au bord de l'eau", presenting the works from the Fournaise Museum's permanent collection, as well as an exceptional loan from the Vernon Museum.