Paint
To put on canvas the greatness that only nature can create is not given to all paintbrushes and many have ventured there with more or less success. It must be admitted that to compete with the divine genius one must be infinitely gifted: some artists have proved with brilliance that they are. The central theme of the works, the landscape has always inspired artists whether they were born in the Pyrenees or simply passing through the region. In each town and in some villages, you can enjoy permanent or occasional exhibitions by painters, contemporary or otherwise, throughout the year. This art is an integral part of the local culture and each commune is faithfully attached to it. Great names have made this love story shine and it is not Gavarni, a painter who was so crazy about the site that he took his pseudonym, who would say the opposite. The rose fairy, Blanche Odin, never left Bagnères-de-Bigorre despite her reputation as an exceptional watercolourist and the Lourdais Louis Capdevielle, a pupil of Bonat and friend of Zola, could not bear his nostalgia and came back to the department to pursue a work based on the little people. More recently, the incredible Jacques Brianti is pursuing a breathtaking career between Pouzac and the rest of the world and Stéphanie Vignaux exports her nudes with all the talent we know. Masters to be admired in their studios or in the many galleries of the department.
The craft
Handicrafts are still very present in the valleys and their worthy heirs are the small plus of the various annual fairs and markets where they are a real success. These small hands do not hesitate to revive ancestral know-how: basketry, pottery, lacemaking, sculpture, woodwork, stonework, slate, silk painting... There are so many talents that it is difficult to forget any of them! Here, wool is spun and woven, wood is worked, stone is sculpted and the waterways bring mills to life in all the valleys. The markets often bring them together and the big summer events never forget a nod to the old trades. Glass remains a material that artists like to shape with their breath, especially in Agos-Vidalos, and stained glass windows still have some rare professionals who are dedicated to them. If the restoration of religious ornaments is their main activity, they are no less true artists and enjoy creating modern and luminous atypical works. In a pastoral territory, the old-fashioned spinning mill has a special place and each valley offers beautiful windows filled with traditionally woven clothes. Everywhere, the welcome will be as warm as a garbure that has been simmering for hours, because the tradition here is simple: whether the songs are folkloric, whether they evoke the mountains, whether the paintings fix them, whether the gastronomy creates festivals, whether they tell you in dialect or in Occitan, everything would be useless if it were not shared.
The marble of Sarrancolin, the marble of kings, great architects and stars, has remained famous. It comes in three varieties and is distinguished by the subtlety and abundance of its colours. It has been chosen by the greatest personalities and is present in the most beautiful monuments. It is used in the decoration of the Trianon in the Palace of Versailles and in the 30 columns of the staircase of the Garnier Opera House in Paris. It is also present in the entrance hall of the Empire State Building, in the homes of Madonna, Mel Gibson and Tina Turner! It has been abandoned in favour of less expensive materials, but is enjoying a commercial revival and some quarries have resumed their activities. In Campan, the Romans already used the famous local marble and did not hesitate to embellish their villas with it. Red in colour, this marble known as griotte had its place with the kings who liked its colour but also its pink or green derivatives. Louis XIV brought it to the top before the exploitation of Espiadet stopped with the death of the Duke of Antin, who died in 1736. The wood surpasses it in the high Adour and the quarry closes in 1986.The cinema
If the most visually striking is Le Pacte des loups, a true ode to the Baronnies, the films shot in the Hautes-Pyrénées form a real festival. In 1948, Saint-Sauveur was already the setting for the epic Le Bout de la route and if digital technology has replaced black and white, it has not silenced the claps of the seventh art. The mountain, as a real star, magnified La Rage au corps, made in the Aure valley, and was no less great for the glory of Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif who, with Et vint le jour de la vengeance, caused a stir in the Azun valley. Anthony Quinn was already in the game and in 1978, he came back with Christopher Lee for the dark Passenger of Men. Lourdes, an international star, has also been on the big screen many times, notably in the gritty film by the Serrault-Poiret duo Le Miraculé, Lelouch's Hommes, femmes : mode d'emploi (Men, Women: Instructions for Use) , which gave her one of her most beautiful views under the snow, and the aptly named Lourdes with Sylvie Testud and Léa Seydoux. You will have understood, the department knows how to make its cinema when it is asked and with worthy representatives such as the Larrieu brothers, directors, it deserves the most welcoming Cesar.
Baroque art in all its forms
If wood or marble sculptors are well represented in the department, don't be surprised to find an incredible heritage of baroque art. A collection due to the so-called "Ferrère brothers", who left their mark on this world of fine gold and emphasis. Originally from Asté, a village in the Campan valley, these three generations of sculptors brought altarpieces, tabernacles, columns and cherubs to the highest level. From 1620 to 1975, their bulimia of creation did not have any dead time and not less than 59 churches were decorated with their paw. To better understand and decipher this very particular style, as ostentatious as one could wish, with gilding and emphasis, a house is dedicated to them in Asté, of course!
