The Château de Wargemont, a 19th-century seaside castle in Normandy where Pierre-Auguste Renoir summered and painted, has been listed for sale by Sotheby’s International Realty for €4 million ($4.5 million). The 17-room property, set on 25 acres, is the last great Impressionist site still in private hands and retains original features including Renoir’s dining room mural The Two Hunts, the only in-situ decor by an Impressionist. Renoir was invited there by diplomat and banker Paul Bérard, and the estate appears in several of his works, including Les rosiers à Wargemont (1879), which sold for $7.5 million at Sotheby’s in 2004.
This listing matters because it represents a rare opportunity to acquire a historically significant property directly tied to the Impressionist movement, with artworks by Renoir and visits from artists like Mary Cassatt and Claude Monet. The sale also coincides with renewed cultural interest in Renoir, as his 1889 canvas Enfant Assis en Robe Bleue appears in Wes Anderson’s upcoming film The Phoenician Scheme. The property’s status as a historic monument and its intact 19th-century condition make it a unique piece of art history on the open market.