History & Art on the Walls of Avignon

Strolling the streets allows us to slow down and savor the sights. One never knows what one will discover and learn about. Art and history abound.

I really love Pierrot by Andrea Ravo Mattoni. It is an homage to Jean-Antoine Watteau, a French painter and draftsman, whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in color and movement, as seen in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens.

Watteau, who died in 1721 at the age of 36, revitalized the waning Baroque style, shifting it to the less severe, more naturalistic, less formally classical, Rococo. He is credited with inventing the genre of fêtes galantes, scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with a theatrical air. Some of his best known subjects were drawn from the world of Italian comedy and ballet. The subject of his hallmark painting, Pierrot (1719), is an actor in a white satin costume who stands isolated from his four companions, staring ahead with an enigmatic expression on his face. Mattoni captured him perfectly. Cool right?

I deem most 'street art' graffiti. Usually, I don't care for graffiti. I was surprised to find some I actually like, while in France. This recent mural work by Lekto, a 32 year old controversial graffiti artist whose real name is Léonard Pelotte, appeared on the sidewall of Mon Bar as gift to its ailing owner, Maître Guy Guenoun. A lawyer by profession, Mr Guenoun grew up in Avignon, in the bar that his father, Marcel (1900-1972), opened in 1933. Mon Bar is a local institution well known to the Avignon residents who still frequent it. It was the lawyer son who, in 1985, bought his father's business, to pay homage to him and make it a place of memory. All his life, he worked to ensure that the bar remained as it was, atypical and from another time. A place that has a soul. Sadly, Mr Guenoun has since passed away which makes seeing this mural that much more meaningful. By the way, when he saw Lekto's artwork he stated, “You couldn’t give me a nicer gift!" The image is to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Marcel Pagnol, a French novelist and playwright. The character is Raimu, the boss of the Bar de la Marine in which the storyline of Pagnol's play/movie Marius revolves. This stuff intrigues the heck out of me.

The Chapellerie Mouret has become a landmark establishment in Avignon and the world of hats. The shop has remained unchanged since it was set up in the historic center in 1860, and has been listed by Monuments Historiques de France. If I had room in my suitcase and an extra few hundred euros, I would so have a new chapeau.

The informational plaque tells us that Captain Bonaparte was housed here in July-August 1793 and that this is the place where he wrote Le souper de Beaucaire.

Le souper de Beaucaire was a political pamphlet written by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1793. With the French Revolution into its fourth year, civil war had spread across France between various rival political factions. Napoleon was involved in military action, on the government's side, against some rebellious cities of southern France. It was during these events, that he spoke with four merchants from the Midi and heard their views. As a loyal soldier of the Republic he responded in turn, set on dispelling the fears of the merchants and discouraging their beliefs. He later wrote about his conversation in the form of a pamphlet, calling for an end to the civil war. He wrote it here, in this actual house. How wild is that?! Such history.

Not too far away, different monumental history occurred. "In November 1782, Joseph MONTGOLFIER discovered the principle of Aerostation (hot air balloon) in this house." In 1782, this building was the home Jean-Joseph Guichard, a printer in Avignon. A loyal customer of the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph and Jacques, who ran a paper business in Annonay, he made one of the rooms on the second floor available to them when they stayed in the city of the Popes.

Note the hot air balloon adorning the railing. In his work published in 1908, The invention of Aeronautics in Avignon in 1782, Félix Digonnet, local scholar, maintains that the invention of the hot air balloon took place precisely in this private mansion in Avignon. Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, the eldest of the two inventor brothers, wanted to heat the shirt he was going to put on while washing. For this purpose, he lit a fire of paper in front of the fireplace and, tightening the opening in the collar of the shirt. With his left hand, he flared the bell-shaped sides of the shirt to concentrate the heat there. It happened that the hot air, tightly trapped in the successful ballooning of the canvas, began to raise the inflated shirt with quite force, above the improvised fireplace. The rest, they say, is history.

This is why, shortly after the first official flight of a hot air balloon, on June 4, 1783 in Annonay, the Montgolfier brothers came to Avignon to demonstrate their balloon in the main courtyard of the Villeneuve hotel, currently the Calvet museum. Today, we know that the first flight of an aerostat was not made by the Montgolfier brothers but by the Brazilian priest Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão, who flew hot air balloons in 1709, in Portugal.

Another work of art that I wasn't very keen on, at first glance, is Avignon's new street names, illustrated with mosaics by street artist Mifamosa. In July 2020, the 30 year old, Orléans Mifamosa illustrated numerous street signs in the city center with mosaics, representing La Rappe (piece of cheese), Ciseaux d'Or (plump scissors with shiny tiles), Mint (little pope who throws coins), Galante (hand who gives a bouquet of flowers), Corneille, Rooster and Three Doves (birds), Place de l'Horloge (clock), and du Passage Fleur. While I appreciate some of his work, at times it looks like childhood Legos and takes away from the historic aspect of town. "Art is in the eye of the beholder". What do you think?

The ornamentation on buildings is exceptional and a delight to discover. This small catch is to hold shutters open. I love that it is so artistic.

Most of the buildings showcase the most beautiful faces. I want to take photos of each of them. They are so varied and unique.

This was some of the saddest history. While in Tahoe, I first learned of the deportation of French Jews through Leon Malmed's memoir, We Survived...At Last I Speak. Starting in 1942 and lasting until July 1944, of the 340,000 Jews living in metropolitan/continental France in 1940, more than 75,000 were deported to death camps, where about 72,500 were murdered including Jacob Leon and his wife, Judith. Such a sad reminder. Someone did not want these two forgotten.

This was the oldest wall of history. Everywhere we go, we find out just how old things are here. Avignon became a city of Roman law in 49 BC. It acquired the status of Roman colony in 43 BC. Pomponius Mela placed it among the most flourishing cities of the province. Over the years 121 and 122, the Emperor Hadrian stayed in the Province where he visited Vaison, Orange, Apt, and Avignon. He gave Avignon the status of a Roman colony.

I even had some 1980's history when I spied this VW Thing. When looked at closely, its black paint covers its original yellow color. For those new to this blog, my college car was a bright yellow Thing.

“History is who we are

and why we are the way we are.”

-David McCullough

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HAERR TRIPPIN'

History & Art on the Walls of Avignon

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