Champrovent

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Champrovent is a small village located in Savoie, France on the western foot of a mountain called Mont du Chat. From Chambéry, the main city of Savoie, to join Champrovent, you should drive on the road to Lyon by the Chat tunnel. After crossing the tunnel, you should turn left in a village called Chevelu where a sign indicated Vernatel and Champrovent. This last village is located a few hundred meters away.

Champrovent is famous due to the stay there of the French painter Balthus during World War II. The main building in the village is a farm built in the XVIIth century. When the northern part of France was invaded by Germany, in June of 1941, he decided to live there where he painted Paysage de Champrovent and two versions of Le Salon. The first version is located in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the second is own by the MOMA in New York. Balthus left Champrovent to Switzerland in 1942.