The Ravoux Inn: Van Gogh's Last Room

Inside the entrance, the ticket office is on your left, and a display ahead tells the story of Van Gogh's life. After leaving the asylum in Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh stayed in Auvers-sur-Oise. He arrived in late May 1890 and spent one summer painting here until the end of July. The site of the old Ravoux Inn now houses a memorial run by a private association, and people usually call it Van Gogh's House. To be precise, it is the room Van Gogh occupied at the Ravoux Inn. It is probably called his house to tell it apart from the painting Bedroom in Arles.

Ravoux is the surname of the family that ran the inn. Van Gogh painted three portraits of the family's daughter, Adeline Ravoux, and she is the woman pictured on the sign at the inn's entrance. Go around to the back, climb the stairs along the wall of the main building, and you reach a small room upstairs. This is where Van Gogh lived, a bare space with just one chair and one bed.

Many interpretations and differing views surround the final period of his life. Our guide points out that Van Gogh was fired up about life and his work, heading out to paint every day, so the doubts about life or hints of death that people read into the earlier paintings may be interpretations invented after the fact. He lived such an unusual life that a plain explanation can sound stranger than a mysterious one, which is perhaps why his story keeps drawing people in.

Next to his room is another, which belonged to a little-known painter named Anton Hirschig. He is said to have been the first to contact Dr. Gachet when something happened to Van Gogh. His room is as humble as Vincent's and shows exactly how poor artists lived in the 19th century.

In his lifetime, Van Gogh reportedly sold only one painting, The Red Vineyard, for 400 francs. Today, his Portrait of Dr. Gachet is said to be worth a fortune, and Sunflowers has fetched an astronomical price at auction, enough to make anyone involved at the time beat their chest in regret. Dogged by poverty and unrecognised for his genius because he was different, he painted to earn money yet was ignored in life. It makes you wonder who really benefits from his paintings selling at such prices.

After seeing his room, head downstairs to find the Ravoux Inn restaurant. It looks humble, but thanks to Van Gogh it has become one of the popular places to eat. Entry to the room is paid, and past it and the neighbouring room a slideshow film is screened. With no narration, just music and paintings, it is so moving that it can bring a lump to your throat and tears to your eyes.

Follow the road downhill to the town hall.