Entering the large 19th century church in gray granite, you dive into the artist's universe.

The play of light and the music grab the visitor, with the eye already captured by the giant frescoes suspended in the nave and the fifty mobile birds falling from the vault.

Macaw, toucan, Guilding Amazon or Nanday parakeet dazzle in the midst of a backdrop of exuberant vegetation.

Self-taught, Alain Thomas, who lives near Nantes, has been painting for 60 years.

Promised to the family business, he broke away from it in pain, originally painting dark and dull canvases until gradually developing his lush palette, now exhibited around the world, his son told AFP. , Wilhem Thomas.

"His paintings have this timeless, universal side, which makes his work intergenerational and speaks to all (...) He awakens our part of childhood, to us adults", he analyzes.

"He is above all a colorist, his paintings are very powerful, very invigorating".

The church of Hénon, near Saint-Brieuc, where the dreamlike universe of the naive painter Alain Thomas is exhibited, December 19, 2021 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

Usually medium in size, around 40 centimeters by about thirty, sometimes smaller (18x18), 80 by 80 for the larger ones, his works - mainly nature and animals - are first digitized, enlarged and printed with "inks ultra-colorful and luminous, ”explains Wilhelm Thomas.

"We do not try to be perfectly faithful, in the reproduction, to the original work", he specifies.

The works suspended in the nave are 28m2 and the Saint-François d'Assise aux oiseaux installed in the choir is around 70m2.

The fifty or so reproductions also adorn the exterior walls of the church and shop windows.

Everything is freely accessible, including, not far from the church, the gallery open during the exhibition, the only place where the health pass is required.

The church of Hénon, near Saint-Brieuc, where the dreamlike universe of the naive painter Alain Thomas is exhibited, December 19, 2021 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

Other reproductions are visible there - as well as an original work from 1976, "La nef aux fous" - but we can especially discover the artist's collaborations with some fifteen national manufacturers, such as Emaux de Longwy or Les Emaux de Longwy. Porcelains from Limoges.

an "antidote" to gloom

"Our idea at the start was to bring culture closer to citizens in a period when everything is gloomy," Thierry Andrieux, mayor of this village of 2,300 inhabitants, told AFP.

The chosen one succeeded beyond his expectations: with each time a different exhibition of works by Alain Thomas, his municipality recorded 20,000 visitors in the first year, in 2018, 30,000 in 2019, and undoubtedly more this year.

"Here as elsewhere, we realize, since the health crisis, that his work has never known such enthusiasm. It's a bit like an antidote" to disenchantment, says Wilhelm Thomas.

The church of Hénon, near Saint-Brieuc, where the dreamlike universe of the naive painter Alain Thomas is exhibited, December 19, 2021 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

In Hénon, these exhibitions "made it possible to unite the population. It is important, the social link at the moment", notes the mayor.

At the origin of the project, his first assistant, Nadine L'Echelard, had been maturing the idea for a while: "I wanted it to be outdoors, at Christmas time, for it to reach all audiences without offending anyone, is colorful and visible in the evening, so that we can combine it with entertainment ... "The concept was there but not yet the content.

"One day, a person presented me with a postcard representing a painting by Alain Thomas. I said to myself: + This is what we need! +"

It was then necessary to convince the painter, more accustomed to large capitals than to rural communities.

"It worked and this meeting has become a vector of unification for all of us, while giving notoriety to the town", she sums up.

The church of Hénon, near Saint-Brieuc, where the dreamlike universe of the naive painter Alain Thomas is exhibited, December 19, 2021 JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP

"No one would have guessed such a welcome, and we would never have imagined having a third exhibition" at Hénon at the end of the year 2021, rejoices Wilhelm Thomas.

© 2021 AFP