At the end of the 19th century Grez-sur-Loing was a buzzing artists’ community. Many artists stayed and worked in this small village, 70 kilometres south of Paris. First to arrive were the Americans, English, Scots and Irish. During the 1880s most of the artists were Scandinavians and just before the turn of the century the Japanese arrived to found the Japanese impressionist movement at Grez.

At that time there were two pensions at Grez-sur-Loing: Hôtel Chevillon and Hôtel Laurent. Both were situated on the main street in walled gardens facing the river. This is where the Swedish artists stayed. Many of the Scandinavians who came here in the 1880s became prominent artists and authors. Most prominent was Carl Larsson, both as a painter of watercolours and as an organiser of the social life at both pensions.

August Strindberg stayed at Grez for long periods. Robert Louis Stevenson and the Finnish sculptor Ville Vallgren came here as well as many of the Danish and Norwegian painters that were later to be made famous through the “Skagen” school. Most of the artists were Swedish including Julia Beck, Karin Bergöö, Oscar Björck, Eva Bonnier, Ernst Lundström, Emma Löwstedt, Karl Nordström and Georg Pauli. Verner von Heidenstam, Bruno Liljefors and Anders Zorn made brief visits to the colony.

Today, we can see and admire the landscape captured on the banks of the Loing and in the pension gardens at, for example, the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and at Göteborgs Konstmuseum. We can read about Grez-sur-Loing of the 1880s in Strindberg’s Bland franska bönder (Among French peasants). Grez-sur-Loing is no longer a farming community, but to the modern visitor this small village has the unmistakable charm of the late 18th and early 19th century French countryside.

Background

The Return

The Hôtel Chevillon’s popularity among artists and authors dwindled at the beginning of the 20th century and it started to decay. The property came on the market in 1987. The buildings were in an appalling state of repair, but Jan Wallinder, Jan Landmark and Alf Elmberg saw its potential of again becoming a centre for Swedish and Nordic culture.

Erik Malmsten joined the project at an early stage, and later Bo Myhrman and Lars Rahmn joined.

Erik Malmsten was the main investor in the project. He also set up the Foundation through which the Hôtel Chevillon was acquired and renovated. The above mentioned six people formed the foundation’s first Board of Directors, sharing the many tasks. Jan Wallinder was appointed Chairman. He stepped down and was replaced by Bo Myhrman in 1996.

The refurbished Hôtel Chevillon was reopened by the Minister for Culture, Birgit Friggebo, on March 16, 1994, in the presence of Queen Silvia and a large number of invited representatives of Swedish and French cultural life.

In 2002, the municipality of Grez-sur-Loing decided to change the name of the street that runs along the Hôtel Chevillon, rue du Vieux Pont, to rue Carl Larsson.