The Palais idéal du Facteur Cheval in Hauterives in the Drôme region is closing this summer the cycle of summer exhibitions it initiated three years ago in homage to Agnès Varda.
Entitled “Correspondences,” this three-chapter exploration explores the connections that Agnès Varda has woven over time with this unique place.
This final section is perhaps the most important in closing the emotional affinity between the place hosting the exhibition and the artistic work of the woman it celebrates: it explores the genesis of their encounter.
It goes back in time, to the moment when the bond between this incredible place and the artist was formed, even before she was Varda.
A prodigious place born from the imagination of a postman who saw it in his dreams and spent 33 years collecting stones during his rounds on foot to assemble them in the evening and thus create his ideal palace.
This dream palace with its necessarily unique architecture was love at first sight for Varda, already a collector of beautiful stamps, when she visited it for the first time in the early 1950s, captivated by its history and the profession of the man who had built it.
This last chapter, called "Oh seasons, Oh castles", like the filmmaker's first short film, revisits it with poetry by offering installations, chapters around escape, the passing of the seasons, holidays, her world between Noirmoutier, the birds, Sète, Belgium and her childhood memories.
A moment of grace, between memories, poetry and incredible architecture.
We push open the door of this institution whose name is whispered as an essential guilty pleasure during the literary salon hosted by Brive-la-Gaillarde and we discover a place that time seems to have remained untouched, so transporting is the decoration.
Photo credit: Chez Francis
We pass a cash register that seems to still receive Louis Napoleons to sit on real bistro benches, under Art Deco lights and entirely surrounded by walls scribbled, drawn, decorated by all the passing artists.
All the French illustrators seem to have had a good time here, extolling from the ceiling to the walls, for one, terrine, for another, pâté croûte, chicken and pickles or even real, freshly made bugnes.
Photo credit: Chez Francis
The immaculate tablecloths showcase the best of the Limousin region, the family-prepared cuisine is generous and authentic, giving the rare impression of being distinguished guests among distant cousins.
The walls don't lie: the flavors and wines are worth the detour!
