The Ideal Palace of Postman Cheval, dream of stones and poetry
Audio 48:30
Joseph Ferdinand Cheval, at the foot of his work completed in 1912. © COLLECTION PALAIS IDÉAL - DR / MÉMOIRES DE LA DRÔME
By: Céline Develay Mazurelle Follow
51 mins
In the south-east of France, in the heart of Drôme des Collines, in the village of Hauterives, a curious palace has been talked about for more than 140 years. Words are lacking or on the contrary, abound about it.
It is said to be extraordinary, fabulous, insane ...
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With its innumerable sculptures evoking nature, its giants and its animals of stone in disorder, some find that the monument has false airs of Angkor Wat, the famous temple in Cambodia.
Others see it as a masterpiece of raw or naive art.
One thing is certain: the Ideal Palace has attracted the eye and the curiosity for more than a century.
Today it is one of the most visited monuments in the Drôme.
This unique monument in the world is the work of a single man: a self-taught, misunderstood at the time who, for more than 30 years, will shape, stone after stone, his dream.
A place of pilgrimage for the surrealists in their time, this palace proved to be an ideal playground for village children, but also a source of inspiration and discovery for visitors from all over the world.
Sensitive and dreamy souls, do not abstain.
Better, listen, because places full of messages and symbols, speak.
And through them, its author: the brilliant and modest Facteur Cheval.
A report by Sarah Lefèvre.
To
go there:
- To organize your trip, go
here
- And discover in Hauterives the
ideal Palace of the Postman Cheval
- On site, you can sleep at “
Chez l'Antiquaire
”.
Françoise welcomes travelers to a bed and breakfast, among her antiques and her yellow postcards from the Facteur Cheval.
To read and see:
- Hauterives. The Ideal Palace of the Postman Cheval,
Genouilleux, Éditions La Passe du vent, 2019: a complete and educational book on the adventure of the palace and its creator
-
Le Posteur Cheval. Until the end of the dream ...
of
Nils Tavernier, Paris, Éditions Flammarion, 2018: a personal biography of Joseph-Ferdinand Cheval by the French director, who in 2018 dedicated a fictional feature to him
-
Le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval.
When the dream becomes reality
by Jean-Pierre Jouve, Claude Prévost and Clovis Prévost, Paris, Éditions du Moniteur, 1981 (reed. Hédouville, Association for research on space and the imagination, 1994)
-
The incredible story du Facteur Cheval
: a film by Nils Tavernier with French actors Jacques Gamblin and Laetitia Casta, released in 2018.
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