The GRATALOUP Home and Studio — Chevreuse
In 1986, GRATALOUP established his Home and Studio in Chevreuse, at the heart of the valley that would become his home and creative environment. Designed by his friend Denis Sloan, a member of the Académie d’Architecture, the house was conceived in close connection with his artistic practice.
Precisely aligned with the cardinal points, the building follows a highly rigorous, almost Cistercian design. Its layout is perfectly symmetrical around a hall set on an east–west axis, from which the various spaces are arranged. To the north, the vast studio extends through the full height of the building; to the south are the living areas.
For GRATALOUP, this architecture was more than simply a setting in which to work. It resonated with the themes and forms that run through his work. The many glazed openings allow light to penetrate deep into the house and studio, recalling the rays and V-shaped forms that regularly appear in his paintings—symbols of rediscovered light.
For more than thirty years, the Home and Studio was where GRATALOUP lived, painted, drew, experimented, and developed his body of work. He created a major part of his work there, surrounded by his paintings, drawings, printing matrices, models, studies, and working documents.
In 2020, the Home and Studio was included in the General Inventory of Cultural Heritage of Île-de-France, formally recognizing the architectural and heritage significance of this place, which is closely connected with the artist’s life and work.
Today, the Home and Studio houses a significant part of GRATALOUP’s work, together with his archives. It serves as the center for the conservation, documentation, and management of his body of work.
Milena Cheynet de Beaupré, GRATALOUP’s wife and the holder of the rights to his work, oversees its preservation and continues the inventory, research, and documentation required to compile the catalogue raisonné.
The Home and Studio is a private site and is not open to the public.
It nevertheless remains essential to understanding the artist: a historic place of creation, a center for the conservation of his works and archives, and a place dedicated to preserving and passing on GRATALOUP’s artistic legacy.