The hamlet is on Chatou’s island of the impressionists.

Chatou is a town from the land of the impressionists and it’s jewel is an island where the light changes according to the time and the season. This island is a witness of the late XIXe century’s leisurely life on the Seine river and is now experiencing a rebirth.
The Fournaise hamlet, the favourite hang out of artists and poets, has been immortalized by the most important impressionist painters and fauves. It is now in the final phase of restoration.

This important project first started when restoration begun on the Fournaise house in 1984, followed by the work on the Levanneur house, both buildings being registered with the France landmark register. ( Batiments de France.)The Chatou population soon became reacquainted with the site and its artistic past, deeply rooted in the town’s memory.
In 1999, a restaurant was built and the boats’ workshop restored thus completing an architectural body of great harmony that is today completed with fine landscaping and lighting.
This is a journey into the past and an invitation to the site’s XIXe century “joie de vivre.”