Argenteuil

Argenteuil
The Pont d'Argenteuil over the River Seine
Coat of arms
Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
Coordinates: 48°57′00″N 2°15′00″E / 48.9500°N 2.2500°ECoordinates: 48°57′00″N 2°15′00″E / 48.9500°N 2.2500°E
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Val-d'Oise
Arrondissement	Argenteuil
Intercommunality	Argenteuil - Bezons
Government
• Mayor (2014-2020)	Georges Mothron (UMP)
Area^1	17.22 km^2 (6.65 sq mi)
Population (2012)^2	104,962
• Density	6,100/km^2 (16,000/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	95018 / 95100
Elevation	21–167 m (69–548 ft) (avg. 42 m or 138 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ^2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Argenteuil (French pronunciation: ​[aʁʒɑ̃tœj]) is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.3 km (7.6 mi) from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil.

Argenteuil is the second most populous commune in the suburbs of Paris (after Boulogne-Billancourt) and the most populous one in the Val-d'Oise department, although it is not its prefecture, which is shared between the communes of Cergy and Pontoise.

Name

The name Argenteuil is recorded for the first time in a royal charter of 697 as Argentoialum, from a Latin/Gaulish root argento meaning "silver", "silvery", "shiny", perhaps in reference to the gleaming surface of the river Seine, on the banks of which Argenteuil is located, and from a Celtic suffix -ialo meaning "clearing, glade" or "place of".

History

Claude Monet - Bords de la Seine à Argenteuil 1875

Argenteuil was founded as a convent in the 7th century (see Pierre Abélard and the Convent of Argenteuil). The monastery that arose from the convent was destroyed during the French Revolution.

A rural escape for Parisians, it is now a suburb of Paris. Painters made Argenteuil famous, including Claude Monet, Jean-Étienne Delacroix, Auguste Renoir, Gustave Caillebotte, Alfred Sisley and Georges Braque.

Personalities

• Fabien Ateba, basketball player
• Franck Beria, footballer
• Georges Braque, 3 May 1882, Co-founder of cubism and sculptor
• Ingrid Chauvin, (b. 3 October 1971), French actress
• Chevalier d'Argenteuil, (fl. in Newfoundland, Canada 1709-13), French soldier; he captured Fort William at St. John's, Newfoundland in 1709
• Sidney Duteil television host
• Ibrahim Gary, karateka
• Alexandre Ndoye, basketball player

Transport

Argenteuil is served by two stations on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line: Argenteuil and Val d'Argenteuil.

Education

The Conservatoire à rayonnement départemental de Musique, Danse et Théâtre is located in Argenteuil.^[1] André Bon is one of its former students.

Population

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 5,356 —     1800 4,609 −2.12% 1806 4,249 −1.35% 1821 4,423 +0.27% 1831 4,542 +0.27% 1836 4,536 −0.03% 1841 4,377 −0.71% 1846 4,586 +0.94% 1851 4,767 +0.78% 1856 5,857 +4.20% 1861 7,269 +4.41% 1866 8,176 +2.38%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1872 8,389 +0.43% 1876 8,990 +1.74% 1881 11,849 +5.68% 1886 12,809 +1.57% 1891 13,339 +0.81% 1896 15,116 +2.53% 1901 17,375 +2.82% 1906 19,829 +2.68% 1911 24,282 +4.14% 1921 32,173 +2.85% 1926 44,538 +6.72% 1931 70,657 +9.67%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1936 59,314 −3.44% 1946 53,543 −1.02% 1954 63,316 +2.12% 1962 82,321 +3.34% 1968 90,480 +1.59% 1975 102,530 +1.80% 1982 95,347 −1.03% 1990 93,096 −0.30% 1999 93,961 +0.10% 2008 103,250 +1.05%

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Argenteuil in 1999 Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France 77.5% 22.5% Born in Overseas France Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants 2.1% 2.1% 4.3% 14.0% ¹This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such as pieds-noirs in Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France in 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics. ²An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

Famous paintings of Argenteuil

In this painting from 1872, Monet was interested in studying how unblended dabs of color could suggest the effect of brilliant sunlight filtered through leaves^[2] The Walters Art Museum.

• By Claude Monet

"Autumn at Argenteuil", "Regatta at Argenteuil", "Red Boats, Argenteuil", "The Bridge at Argenteuil", "The Port at Argenteuil", "The Seine at Argenteuil"

• By other painters

"Argenteuil" and "Seine near Argenteuil" by Édouard Manet; "Regatta at Argenteuil", by Auguste Renoir; "The Bridge in Argenteuil", by Gustave Caillebotte

Gallery

• 

  Claude Monet - The Seine at Argenteuil, 1874

• 

  Édouard Manet — Argenteuil, 1875

• 

  Édouard Manet — The Seine near Argenteuil, 1874

See also

• Communes of the Val-d'Oise department

References

• INSEE
• Association of Mayors of the Val d’Oise (French)

1. "Argenteuil Conservatory". Retrieved 2009-08-28.
2. "Springtime". The Walters Art Museum.

External links

• Official website (French)
• Official facebook (French)