Among Vincent van Gogh’s own favorite works was the one entitled Daubigny’s Garden, one of several paintings and sketches he made there. Van Gogh returned again and again, we conjecture, not only because of the garden’s physical beauty, but because of its emotional resonance. A setting so infused with the spirit of his esteemed and beloved predecessor must have been deeply significant for the younger artist.

This same impulse draws us to artists’ homes and studios. Carefully preserved for more than a century and open to the public, the sites described in these pages offer an intimate glimpse into the private worlds of Claude Monet, Charles-François Daubigny, Vincent van Gogh, Jean-François Millet, Rosa Bonheur, Gustave Courbet, Eugène Delacroix, and Gustave Moreau. Fortunately, most of these residences are only a convenient day trip from Paris (and the homes and studios of Delacroix and Moreau are actually in the city). The scenic villages of Barbizon, Auvers-sur-Oise, Giverny, and Ornans have remained relatively unchanged over the years, enchanting today’s traveler with the same natural beauty that so inspired the artists who settled here.

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