Restaurant Fournaise

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The Maison Fournaise was a restaurant located on an island in Chatou west of Paris.

In 1857, Alphonse Fournaise bought land in Chatou to open a boat rental, restaurant, and small hotel for the new tourist trade.

Closed in 1906, the Maison Fournaise remained abandoned before being restored in 1990 on the initiative of the town of Chatou, with the assistance of American private funds (Friends of French Art).

The restaurant was a favorite of Pierre-Auguste Renoir who painted scenes of the restaurant, in cluding The Rowers' Lunch in 1875, as well as several portraits of Fournaise family members and landscapes of the surrounding area.