Pays des Impressionnistes
The Pays des Impressionnistes is a certification mark created by the Syndicat intercommunal à vocations multiples des Coteaux de Seine in 2001 to promote the cultural heritage of this touristic area. Nine municipalities in the Yvelines department of France bordering the loop of the Seine River, where, during the nineteenth century, impressionist painters exercised their art, are associated with this creation: Bougival, Carrières-sur-Seine, Chatou, Croissy-sur-Seine, Le Pecq, Le Port-Marly, Louveciennes, Marly-le-Roi and Noisy-le-Roi. There is the Path of the Impressionists, four hiking trails dotted with reproductions of paintings, reflecting the still remarkable character of this landscape of Impressionist sites which has been proposed for inclusion in the World Heritage Site since 2009. Rueil-Malmaison, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, joined them in 2010, when eight of these municipalities have entrusted development task of the Pays des Impressionnistes to the visitor center of Marly-le-Roi, which organises Impressionist cruises along the banks of the Seine, as well as visits of ateliers of contemporary painters.
The Path of the Impressionists
There are four Impressionists’ Trail paths with more than 30 reproductions of Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley paintings on the spot of their creation.- The Sisley Path is a trail of 3.15 km, from Le Pecq-sur-Seine to Port-Marly. There are 6 reproductions : Vue du château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye by William Turner, La Seine et le Pecq by Maurice de Vlaminck; 2 versions of L'Inondation à Port-Marly, Une rue à Marly ou place de marché by Alfred Sisley et Port-Marly, le lavoir by Camille Pissarro.
- The Pissarro Path is a trail of 6.6 km, from Louveciennes, going through Marly-le-Roi and arriving at Bougival. There are about 15 reproductions : in Louveciennes, La route de Versailles by Pierre-Auguste Renoir; Place du Chenil à Marly, effet de neige and L'abreuvoir de Marly, gelée blanche, by Alfred Sisley, Vue de Marly-le-Roi by Camille Pissarro; Chemin de la Machine, Louveciennes by Alfred Sisley and Le Village de Voisins by Camille Pissarro. Then, there is Hauteurs de Marly, ferme de mi-côte by Alfred Sisley, and Une rue de village, Louveciennes by Pissarro. Then, L'aqueduc de Marly by Sisley and Entrée du village de Voisins by Pissarro. Then comes Le Château du Pont by Jeanne Baudot, a student of Renoir from Louveciennes. Then, Printemps à Louveciennes by Pissarro. Finally, in Bougival, there are Restaurant à Bougival by Maurice de Vlaminck, Route de Saint-Germain à Marly-le-Roi and Barrage de la Machine de Marly by Alfred Sisley.
- The Monet is a trail of 4.25 km, from Chatou, going through Croissy-sur-Seine et and arriving at Bougival. There are 5 reproductions : Le pont du chemin de fer à Chatou and La Grenouillère by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bain à la Grenouillère and Le pont de Bougival by Claude Monet, and Bords de Seine par Berthe Morisot.
- The Renoir is a trail of 3.6 km, from Chatou arriving at Carrières-sur-Seine. There are 5 reproductions : Le Déjeuner des Canotiers and Les canotiers à Chatou by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Le pont de Chatou by Maurice de Vlaminck, Carrières-Saint-Denis by Claude Monet and Le Village by Maurice de Vlaminck.
Visitor center
From 2011, the visitor center of Marly-le-Roy became that of Pays des Impressionnistes, gathering Carrières-sur-Seine, Chatou, Croissy-sur-Seine, Le Pecq, Le Port-Marly, Louveciennes, Marly-le-Roi and Rueil-Malmaison.It organizes Impressionist's cruises from April to October along the shores and islands of the loop of the Seine.
It also organizes visits of contemporary painters ateliers, such as those of Catherine Vaes in Croissy in 2012, and Claude-Max Lochu in Carrières-sur-Seine in January 2014.