 The daughter of Mr Levert, the original owner, put the centrality of the location to use by opening a retail wine business.The picturesqueness of the village, as well as its proximity and railway connection to Paris, made it a popular destination for artists, and during the mid- to late nineteenth century an influx of painters, such as Daubigny, Cézanne, Pissarro, Daumier and Corot, saw the village become an artist's colony comparable to Barbizon.See Van Gogh, Artistic breakthrough and final years, Auves-sur-Oise
In 1889 the lease on the house was taken on by Arthur Gustave Ravoux, who transformed the business into an inn popular with the artistic community in Auvers.