Yerres, France —It’s one of those hidden gems of the Greater Paris region tucked away in a greenery-filled corner south of the French capital and just a 20-minute, four stop train ride from the Gare de Lyon in central Paris. The Maison Caillebotte welcomes visitors to its gardens, exhibition spaces and to the Casin, a great estate house which once belonged to the Caillebotte family and offered inspiration to its most illustrious member, the world-renowned painter Gustave Caillebotte who was both a part of and a patron of the Impressionist movement. The house has been restored to its 19th century finery by the small and lovely city of Yerres and opened to the public in 2017. By 2021, the public had selected it as their preferred monument in the Greater Paris region. The home and English garden filled with follies offers a look into the life and lifestyle of a French upper middle class family in the latter half of the 19th century, the Belle Epoque, and a great artist who was also a collector, keen sailor and lawyer. 

But that’s not all. The house has been refurbished with luxurious furnishings of the period when the Caillebotte family lived there from 1860 until 1879, purchased with donations from the friends of Caillebotte association. The family had plenty of leisure activities including hunting, playing pool and boating and other leisure activities on the Yerres, a small river that borders on the property and which can be seen in Gustave Caillebotte’s paintings. The follies in the expansive park, which is free of charge, include a Swiss Chalet, now an excellent restaurant serving locally sourced products (although it is currently closed), an Orangerie which in the winter housed the orange trees of the park, many of which figure in Caillebotte’s paintings, a consecrated chapel, an aviary which still today houses ornamental birds, a superb grotto-inspired ice-house, a Japanese garden bench with covered seating (these were introduced into France in 1867 at the World’s Fair) a superb market garden  and an ornamental farm where exceptional temporary exhibitions are housed.

The Caillebotte property is currently hosting an exhibition devoted to the Russian painter Boris Zaborov in the Ferme Ornée. Entitled Boris Zaborov, Painting Memory, the show brings together the works by the artist who was born in Minsk in 1935 into a family of artists but lived and painted in Paris from 1981 until 2021. His works evoke the memories that he brought, and continued to carry with him. Children, women, animals are all subjects in his at times haunting works. The exhibition was curated by French art historian Pascal Bonafoux who knew the artist well notably on the occasion of the exhibition Moi! Self-portraits from the 20th century which he mounted in 2004 at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris.

The Caillebotte property offers a splendid day out filled with art and leisure activities. The home is open all year from 2:30pm until 6:30pm (closed on Mondays) and the park is open all year. You can purchase a ticket for the exhibition and the Caillebotte home, Le Casin, and the park is free of charge. You can even get into Caillebotte leisure activities and rent a small boat, until the end of October, to go boating on the Yerres like the Caillebotte family did over 150 years ago. The Zaborov exhibition is on until October 12th while an exhibition devoted to Grégoire Nicolas Finez, a local early 20th century artist is being played out in the Orangerie until November 2nd. For the European Heritage Days on September 20th and 21st, one free ticket is offered for one purchased ticket and special activities are organized in the home and gardens. Opening days and times for the various activities change throughout the year so check the website for details. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. https://www.maisoncaillebotte.fr/