A long narrow island in the Seine, the Île de Chatou, between Rueil-Malmaison and St-Germain-en-Laye, was once a rustic spot where Parisians came on the newly opened train line to row on the river, and to dine, dance and flirt at the guinguettes – the classic Parisian dancehall-restaurants on the riverbank. A favourite haunt of artists was the Maison Fournaise, just below the Pont de Chatou road bridge, which is now once again an attractive restaurant (closed Sun evening in winter; tel 01.30.71.41.91; menu 25), with a small museum of memorabilia (Wed–Sun noon–6pm; 4). One of Renoir's best-known canvases, Le Déjeuner des Canotiers, shows his friends lunching on the balcony of Maison Fournaise, which is still shaded by a magnificent riverside plane tree. A copy of the painting pasted to a board next to the restaurant marks the spot where Renoir would have placed his easel. Habitués of the restaurant included Impressionist painters as well as de Vlaminck and his fellow Fauves, Derain and Matisse. The Maison Levanneur, opposite, was rented between 1900 and 1905 by Derain and de Vlaminck as a studio. It has since been renovated and now houses the Centre National de l'Estampe et de l'Art Imprimé (Wed–Sun noon–6pm; free; tel 01.39.52.45.35, www.cneai.com), which puts on temporary exhibitions linked to the art of printing.Heading south, under the Pont de Chatou, will bring you to the Parc des Impressionnistes, a fairly nondescript park with a few picnic tables. If you continue beyond the park, however, a narrow wooded path with the Seine running either side takes you as far as the Grenouillère (ten-minute walk), a popular spot in the early 1900s for riverside drinking, dancing, bathing and boating; it was much frequented and painted by the Impressionists. Nothing remains of the café-bal that existed, but there are a couple of reproduced paintings by Monet and Renoir that are part of an Impressionist trail and, aside from a wooden bench and steps down to the river, it's a surprisingly untouched part of the island in the Seine. A small museum (Tues, Thurs and Sun 2–6pm; closed mid-Dec to mid-Jan; 3.20) of memorabilia related to the Grenouillère is housed in the Maison Joséphine (so-called because Joséphine de Beauharnais lived there for two years before her marriage to Napoleon) on the other side of the river in Croissy, but you need to head back up the Pont de Chatou to cross over, and follow the river downstream on the Chatou/Croissy side to get there. Access to the island is from the Rueil-Malmaison RER stop. Take the exit avenue Albert-1er, go left out of the station and right along the dual carriageway onto the bridge – a ten-minute walk. Bizarrely, the island hosts a twice-yearly ham and antiques fair (March & Sept), which is fun to check out. River cruises round Chatou or as far as Auvers-sur-Oise (an all-day expedition) depart from the Capitainerie on the Rueil-Malmaison bank of the Seine, opposite the Maison Fournaise (May–Oct Sundays and public holidays; 40/58 depending on the cruise, with obligatory lunch; tel 01.47.16.72.66 for tickets and information).
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