Foujita home-studio

One cannot help but feel sentimental on entering the artist’s small house in the Chevreuse Valley. Nothing seems to have changed since Léonard Foujita (1886-1968), who fell under the charm of the place, bought it in the early 1960s.

This Japanese painter arrived in France from Tokyo in 1913, and became a noteworthy figure of the Roaring Twenties and of the School of Paris alongside his contemporaries Picasso, Apollinaire, Modigliani and Soutine, before leaving France to explore the world. A multi-faceted artist — painter, printmaker, illustrator, ceramist and photographer — he was described as a "magician" by his contemporaries.

A Meeting with Inspiration

After renovating every last detail of the house in his own image, Foujita set down his paintbrushes and pigments, arranged the numerous objects he had collected from his travels, and did not leave until his death in 1968. It was here that he crafted his last great work: La Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix de Reims (Chapel of Our Lady of the Peace of Reims).

A visit to the garden, his personal living quarters and the attic-like workshop gives a unique insight into the artist’s sources of inspiration and how he worked, particularly from the preparatory drawings, sketches and models that are preserved. But, above all, it allows the visitor an intimate glimpse of this man of great culture and curiosity.

Inside the homes of exceptional artists.