THE MORNING LIST
Montparnasse station opens towards the Atlantic and the sea spray, but also allows day trips to the Ile-de-France and Centre-Val de Loire regions; for a bowl of art brut in Chartres or a dive into the green, from the forest of Rambouillet to the splendid French gardens of Maintenon.
In Chartres, mosaics and water lilies
If it catches the eye as soon as you get off the train, the sculptural cathedral will not, this time, be at the heart of our visit to Chartres. We choose to leave the city, by bike or by bus (fifteen minutes), to discover a more secret place but just as moving. In Rue du Repos – very close to the cemetery – a narrow alley leads to the colorful house of Raymond Isidore, entirely covered in mosaics. Because we like comparisons, we immediately think of the ideal Palais du Facteur Cheval, in Hauterives (Drôme), or even Antoni Gaudi’s Park Güell, in Barcelona.
But the Picassiette house, the nickname of Raymond Isidore, has something unique. From 1938, this road worker who lived in great poverty was attracted by the debris of broken dishes left on the sidewalks, which he brought home. “I saw things that shone, things of color, (…) It felt like a command telling me to stoop down to pick them up.”he would say later.
Wandering through the house and its surroundings is like seeing the roadmender discovering himself as an artist. Going from simple decor to embellish the floor, the bed and the chairs of its interior to immense frescoes which tell of its beliefs, evoking the passage from life to death, from Chartres to the celestial Jerusalem. Born blind, Raymond Isidore regained his sight at the age of 10, admiring the stained glass windows of the cathedral. A “revelation” which earned him a love for the Virgin Mary and the desire to “put some light” in his life.
If the hut and its adjoining rooms are full of poetry, it is outside, in the garden, that Raymond Isidore will express his raw talent and his spiritual quest – which many will take for madness – with recurring motifs , from yellow and white daisies to biblical characters. After the black courtyard, we arrive at the garden of paradise, where a magnificent blue tomb sits: “Here rests the spirit”inscribed in mosaics the one who completed his work just before dying in 1964.
Before boarding the return train, take a detour to the Museum of Fine Arts, in front of the cathedral, for a unique experience: finding yourself alone and a few centimeters from the Water lily pond, by Claude Monet. The painting, on loan from Orsay, is on display until June in the beautiful chapel of this former archbishopric. If this Chartres institution is awaiting a major renovation, the curator wants to continue to bring it to life with temporary exhibitions. And that’s good !
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