Van Gogh's final sanctuary

Kate Sheppard visits the town outside Paris where the artist spent his last days

"Here one is far enough away from Paris for it to be the real countryside... no factories, but beautiful greenery in abundance and well cared for."

So wrote Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo on his arrival at Auvers-sur-Oise in May 1890. The same is still true today. The former home of Van Gogh, Daubigny and Cézanne is a rural island surrounded by the concrete jungle of the Paris suburbs.

It comes as a surprise to most people to learn how much of Van Gogh's history lies so close to Paris, as he is more often associated with the south of France. Yet he spent his last days in the village of Auvers and is buried just outside, among the cornfields he loved to paint. Only 35km, or an hour by train, from the French capital, Auvers is a welcome change for anyone seeking to escape the demands of the city for a few hours.

It proved a haven for Van Gogh, stifled after only three days of living in Paris. His friend Paul Cézanne recommended Auvers to him because of the countryside and the presence in the village of Dr Paul Gachet, a doctor with artistic leanings who provided both medical, financial and creative support for young artists. His medical advice to Van Gogh was, "Paint, paint, paint."

Van Gogh stayed in Auvers for the last 70 days of his life, working from sunrise to sunset and completing 72 works there. The inspiration for many of these can still be seen – the Gothic church, the town hall and the cornfields where he painted his last picture, The Crows, have hardly changed in a hundred years.

Van Gogh resided in the Auberge Ravoux, now known as the Maison Van Gogh. His room, and the next-door room of another struggling Dutch painter, Anton Hirschig, have been left unchanged and are a poignant reminder of the poverty faced by young artists. The museum also offers an excellent audio-visual presentation on Auvers and the sources of Van Gogh's works, plus a shop for the obligatory postcard.

Van Gogh shot himself in a field nearby on 27 July 1890 and died two days later in his room with Theo and Dr Gachet by his side. A short walk past the church and out into the cornfields takes you to the cemetery where he is buried – along with his brother Theo, who died only six months after Vincent. Their graves are covered by a blanket of ivy where people leave flowers, paints, brushes and even their own pictures.

Further on in the village lies the Château d'Auvers, a large stately home, where you can see the "Voyage au temps des Impressionnistes". The exhibition aims to depict the life and times of the Impressionist painters and their reception by both critics and public through film, music and pictures. Highlights include the recreation of a café concert, with absinthe bottles and can-can dancers, and a mock steam-train journey, with projections of the local countryside and the paintings it inspired.

A further sign of how rich Auvers-sur-Oise was in artistic talent comes in the "Atelier Daubigny", the former home of the pre-Impressionist painter, Charles-François Daubigny. An inspiration for many of the Impressionists, he was, like Dr Gachet, an important support for them financially. He moved to Auvers in the 1860s with his artistic family and his friends, the artists Corot and Daumier.

On rainy days they would decorate the walls of the house with exquisitely beautiful murals of flowers, animals and landscapes, most notably in the bedroom of Daubigny's daughter, Cecile, which have been preserved by Daubigny's descendants today.

Other points of interest in the village include the Absinthe Museum, a celebration of the "forbidden muse" of many 19th-century artists and Dr Gachet's own house, originally a boarding school for young girls.

Traveller's guide

Opening times: Château d'Auvers – April-Sept 10:30am-6pm (closed Mondays), Oct-March 10:30am-4:30pm; L'Auberge Ravoux (Maison de Van Gogh) – 10am-6pm (closed Mondays); Atelier Daubigny – Thurs-Sunday 2pm-6:30pm. Closed until 11 March.

Getting there: From Paris Gare du Nord take a train to Valmondois and change for Auvers-sur-Oise; from Paris Saint-Lazare travel to Pontoise and change for Auvers. Or take the RER from La Défense to Cergy Préfecture and then take the 9507 bus to Auvers.