Champrovent is a small village located in

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

on the western foot of a mountain called Mont du Chat. It is located on the territory of the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Saint-Jean-de-Chevelu Saint-Jean-de-Chevelu is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central Franc ...

. From

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb ...

, the main city of Savoie, to join Champrovent, you should drive on the road to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

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 Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his image ...

during World War II. The main building in the village is a farm built in the 17th century. When the northern part of France was invaded by Germany, in June 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 in the collections of

MOMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; ...

in New York. Balthus left Champrovent to Switzerland in 1942.

References

Villages in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes {{Savoie-geo-stub