Fodor's Expert Review Maison du Dr. Gachet

The former home of van Gogh's closest friend in Auvers, Dr. Paul Gachet, is a local landmark. Documents and mementos evoke both van Gogh's stay and Gachet's passion for the avant-garde art of his era. The good doctor was himself the subject of one of the artist's most famous portraits (and the world's second most expensive painting when it sold for $82 million in the late 1980s); the actual creation of it was reenacted in the 1956 biopic, Lust for Life, starring Kirk Douglas. Even his house was immortalized on canvas, courtesy of Cézanne. A friend and patron to many of the artists who settled in and visited Auvers in the 1880s, Gachet also contributed to their artistic education by teaching them about engraving processes. Don’t overlook the garden—it provided the ivy that covers van Gogh's grave in the cemetery across town.