Musée Pissarro

Set in the heights of the town of Pontoise, the Pissarro Museum would have delighted the Impressionist master with its exceptional views over the Oise valley. It is the perfect setting to pay homage to a painter who, from 1866 to 1868 then 1872 to 1874, set down his easel here to try to capture the beauty of the landscape.

The Pissarro Museum, which opened in 1980 to tie in with the 150-year anniversary of the artist’s birth, is set in a superb late 19th-century manor house, built on the site of a former Medieval castle. Recently renovated and enlarged, the museum presents an excellent collection of works by Pissarro and his sons, alongside canvases by Pre- and Post-Impressionist landscape painters.

Awakening the senses

In this exquisite setting, you can admire around a hundred etchings and drawings by Pissarro, including his masterful oil painting “Péniche sur la Seine” (Barge on the Seine), painted in 1864. There are also works by Daubigny, Guillaumin, Signac, Hayet, Piette, Cézanne, Caillebotte and Goeneutte.

Before you leave, a stroll around the museum’s Garden of the Five Senses provides a stimulating experience, thanks to its exceptional variety of plants.

Follow in the footsteps of the Impressionists in the Oise Valley with Daubigny and Pissarro.