Auvers-sur-Oise, a village near Paris famous as an artist’s paradise, is also the place where Vincent Van Gogh spent his last days and he has long attracted tourists to walk in the last steps of the tortured painter. But since art experts have identified his final work before taking life, there have been conflicts in the city.
Van Gogh’s final painting was challenged for decades because it did not go out with his works. But in 2020, experts concluded that the root of knotty trees exceeding a hill in Auvers, as represented in its “tree roots”, was made on the day of his death. This observation may have settled a dispute, but it immediately stirred another, that between the municipality and the owners of the property where the roots develop.
The main root represented in the painting – of a black grasshopper shaft and nicknamed “the elephant” by amateurs – leads to a public route. After the discovery of its historical value, the municipality claimed a section of private land near the road as a public domain, claiming that it was necessary for the maintenance. Jean-François and Hélène Serlinger, the owners, fought the village and a Recently court of appeal concluded that there was no basis for the complaint of the municipality.
But the mayor of Auvers, Isabelle Mézières, is committed to continuing to fight, and she can always call on a superior court. After the decision, she insisted that the site belongs to the public and not to the private owners. “The roots belong to Auverves!” She written on social networksreferring to citizens of the region.
The continuous fight on the roots of the trees of Van Gogh threw a veil on what is generally a festive season in Auvers, 7,000 inhabitants, where artistic tourism is a large company that warms up in the spring.
That the village was represented by other notable painters, including Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Camille Pissaro. only added to its attraction. Its popularity is such that the French transit authorities direct a seasonal line in Paris, Nicknamed the “Impressionist train”And people come from afar to see what the local tourist advice Calls “the outdoor museum that at the time has become over time”.
The owners say that the conflict endangers the historic site, because the mayor blocked them and the experts properly protect the roots since their meaning was established. In a telephone interview, Mr. Serlinger accused the municipality of using the administrative case as a pretext for “an attempt to take control of a culturally significant site” and to endanger the roots simultaneously by “obstructing the installation of a permanent protective structure”.
The municipality and the mayor refused requests for comments. But it may be normal for these roots of trees to be the subject of such a knotty conflict.
The famous painting of Van Gogh representing the tangled tree shows “the fight of life and a fight against death,” said Wouter Van der Veen, the researcher in France who identified the roots in 2020.
However, the painting is brilliant and alive, made at the end of a productive period in the troubled existence of Van Gogh – after having cut his ear and spent time in an asylum – and the village celebrates the Dutch painter whose work was rejected in life and kissed after his death. Van Gogh is a major attraction, including for serlingers.
The couple moved to Auvers in 1996 because Mrs. Serlinger, an artist, wanted to live where Van Gogh had worked. In 2013, they bought a small additional plot of land near their house, linked to their courtyard, extending their territory. A few years later, it turned out that the roots of this new property were an important part of art history.
NOW, The roots have their own website And a non -profit organization, led by the Serlingers, who say they want to protect the location of the public. They have In partnership with the Van Gogh Europe Foundation, which brings together key locations and museums linked to the painter under the direction of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Last year, the Serlingers began to open their courts to visitors for tours.
Mr. Serlinger insists that the couple did not intend to make their court a destination and did not take advantage of the tours. He noted that the main root is mainly visible for the public from the road, although the municipality has placed a 10-foot sign there highlighting the discovery which partially obstructs the view and “disfigures the front of the site”.
It was the enthusiasm of art experts and academics who have visited them over the years, who convinced the couple to open their land to the public, he said. They now charge around $ 9 for a “promenade in the landscape of Van Gogh’s final painting,” he added, the funds going to conservation costs.
Saturday was the start of the new tourist season. But the dispute disturbed the owners and raised concerns about the preservation of the roots.
“This has created a deep feeling of insecurity around a site that calls calm and serenity,” said Serlinger. “We have a feeling of insecurity with a mayor who is still in a war.”
