Hauterives (France) (AFP)
At the bend of a street in Hauterives, in the Drôme, hides the ideal postman Cheval Palace, built by this self-taught visionary for 33 years and listed as a historical monument half a century ago, a birthday celebrated from Friday .
Andre Malraux, then Minister of Culture, had to fight to obtain the 23 September 1969 classification of this masterpiece of naive architecture against the opinion of most experts who considered the Palace "hideous" and did not hide their contempt for his creator.
In addition to protecting this unique work in the world, admired by the Surrealists, "the tenacity of Malraux has saved the Palace from ruin," said Frederic Legros, its director since May.
"In a dream, I took out the queen of the world," wrote on the north facade Ferdinand Cheval, whose construction of stones, collected during his tours, shells and lime modeled by hand, could have disappeared.
The metal structures used by the postman to consolidate his building 12 meters high and 26 meters long were rusted and threatened to collapse.
"He was also a communication genius who opened the palace in 1905 to the public," said AFP Mr. Legros. If the visitors then treated him to "illuminated", they hurried to Hauterives.
Begun in 1879, the construction of this marriage of dreamlike figures, cultures and religions of East and West, will end in 1912.
Ferdinand Cheval will spend another seven years building his own tomb in the nearby cemetery. "His masterpiece", according to the director.
A tad megalomaniac, he wanted to build in his Palace a burial "worthy of the pharaohs". The church and the town hall refused.
The name "Ideal Palace" is borrowed from a poem by a young Grenoblois enthusiast by his visit.
Today, the site attracts some 180,000 visitors a year, French and foreign, "a number reached as of July 31 this year," rejoices Frederic Legros. Attendance boosted by the success of director Niels Tavernier's biopic, released in 2018.
"And, no, Mr. Legros rectifies, the postman Cheval had not built the Palace for his daughter Alice, who died as a teenager, as the film claims, and believes him, then, a part of the public".
- "Work of one man" -
This monument where a mosque, a Hindu temple, a medieval castle, Vercingetorix, Caesar and Archimedes coexist, animal figures or sculptures "from primitive times", is since 1994 property of the municipality.
It has been restored several times, concrete injected under its base ...
Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924) was a baker at first. "It gave him incredible dexterity to knead + lime," says Legros.
His idea of "temple of nature" springs when he stumbles on a bizarre rock. He calls it "stumbling block" and places it on the terrace of the Palace, which also includes "caves" and inner galleries.
Never had this man, who claimed his condition of "peasant, peasant son," had seen an elephant or a cheetah, let alone oriental temples. He reinvents them from postcards or illustrated magazines. And, to instruct the visitor, engrave legends under the sculptures.
The factor also inscribes his thoughts on the facades: "Stubbornly the dream", "A beneficent genius pulled me from the nothingness", "Work of a single man" ...
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary, an unpublished notebook of Picasso's drawings, a tribute to the postman Cheval, dated 1937, will be presented for the first time to the public from Friday, during the Heritage Days. Picasso had visited the Palace with Dora Maar and Paul Eluard.
The postman's house, the Villa Alicius, open for the first time to visitors, will host the exhibition "Wind and birds encourage me", with works by Ali Cherri - who also exhibits in the garden his "Machine flying "-, a feathered painting by Kate MccGwire or photos of birds by Jean-Luc Mylayne.
The "Cage edible", a work of Fabrice Hyber, will also be exhibited.
And all year round, there will be exhibitions of great figures of modern art like Picasso and contemporary artists.
© 2019 AFP