Barbizon is known as the village of the painters (le village des peintres), and Mick and I went to take a look before we left our current house sit.

The village of Barbizon is located on the edge of the Fontainebleau Forêt about 20 km to the west of Samois-sur-Seine.

In the 19th Century, the small village became a mecca for artists wanting to change the style of painting in France. And from what we learnt during our visit to a museum there, they were ridiculed for doing what they did.

Their crime was to move away from painting the traditional structured scenes of figures, and instead use the countryside and nature as their inspiration. The School of Barbizon operated in the small village and the neighbouring forest from around 1830 until 1875.

Mick and I visited the Musée Départemental de l’École de Barbizon which was previously an auberge (or an inn) that housed hundreds of artists during the period mentioned above. The most famous being Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet.

The museum actually was the old auberge, and much of it had been left as it once was, to tell the story of the importance of the place. A small painting of the kitchen helped in the recreation of this room.

But, the real treasures were what the artists who stayed there during this period left behind.

They had painted just about every surface of the place – cupboard doors, panels above fireplaces and even made rough sketches on the plastered walls – like the one in the next image below.

 

We read that their preference was to paint in the open air, using the newly invented pewter tubes of paint that gave them freedom to paint in situ, but obviously when it was raining, they had to do something else indoors. I wondered if it was how they paid for their rent??

Mick is standing in front of a cupboard (to the right) and a composite painting made up of four panels produced by two different artists.

Sometimes the artist signed his name, but not always. There were plaques for us to read identifying what information had been obtained by the curators. All in French, but we made do. But, don’t quote me on this.

This cupboard which was situated in the recreated dining room was made up of two paintings, each in two halves.

While these paintings below were on a  door.

Also on display, were some of the finished paintings by these artists. Some donated to the museum and others on loan from larger museums.

The Fontainebleau Forêt was an inspiration to many artists, and it was through the protestations of some artists, in particular Rousseau, that ensured the forest remained undamaged or destroyed. Which I was very pleased about because Mick and I have enjoyed spending time strolling through it for the past five weeks.

If you want to know more about this movement, this article is very interesting.