The Vendée painters
Paul Baudry (1828-1886). A native of La Roche-sur-Yon, Paul Baudry was one of the most famous academic painters of the Second Empire. He was also the decorator of the Opéra Garnier, part of the Panthéon and the Château de Chantilly. Son of a clog maker, Paul Baudry entered the Beaux-Arts at the age of sixteen thanks to a municipal scholarship and received the Grand Prix de Rome in 1850. Essentially a muralist, even though he also painted portraits and historical compositions (such as the decor of the Opéra Garnier), he created the decor of the Hotel Fould in 1854, the Hotel Galliera in 1863 and the Hotel de la Pava. He traveled to the Orient and died before being able to complete the project of decorating the Pantheon of Paris on Joan of Arc.
Charles Milcendeau (1872-1919). Son of innkeepers from Soullans, he studied in La Roche-sur-Yon and then in Nantes, before working in the studio of the painter, sculptor and draftsman Gustave Moreau in Paris. He became friends with Rouault and Matisse. He died suddenly in 1919 at the age of 47 in his native village of Bois-Durand, in the Breton marshlands. A museum is dedicated to him in Soullans.
Paul-Émile Pajot (1870-1930). Born in La Chaume, his painting was noticed by Jean Cocteau, who said of him that "he is a man who paints boats. He does not paint boats for people who love painting, but he is a painter for people who love boats. He obtained artistic consecration in Paris in January 1925, then in 1927 with Foujita. His work is considerable, dedicated to his land and to the ships that he reproduced on his canvases with his naive brushstroke. His paintings are sought after by the great French museums as well as by collectors. From his beginnings as a fisherman at the age of 11 to support his family, Paul-Émile Pajot naturally became the chronicler of the fishing world through his drawings and watercolors.
Benjamin Rabier (1869-1939). This cartoonist born in La Roche-sur-Yon composed illustrated stories for children, whose heroes were animals. In addition to his illustrations of the Fables of La Fontaine, he is also known for a world famous creation: a famous Laughing Cow!
Gaston Chaissac (1910-1964). Painter born in 1910 in Corrèze, Gaston Chaissac lived in the Vendée from 1943 until his death in 1964, in Boulogne, Sainte-Florence and Vix, three towns where his wife was a teacher. If he was considered by most of his contemporaries as a marginal, Gaston Chaissac is now considered as an artist who marked his time. Drawing, gouache, oil, graffiti, collage, use of waste ..., his creations are the result of a permanent research that his knowledge of art history has enriched. Add a touch of irony and truculence and you will obtain the portrait of an endearing and talented man. Visit the Espace Gaston Chaissac in Sainte-Florence to discover this extraordinary artist who was exhibited at Beaubourg.
Henry Simon (1910-1987). Born in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez to schoolteacher parents, Henry Simon began painting at the age of 8 and entered the Nantes School of Fine Arts in 1928. After winning the Decré and Conté prizes, he met Derain in Paris. In 1934, back in the Vendée, he devoted himself to painting in his homeland and, a few years later, did decorative work for public buildings (casinos in Sables-d'Olonne and Saint-Jean-de-Monts). Expressing himself on several themes and in different techniques (oil, gouache, pastel, watercolor, drawing, ink...), he was named Knight of Arts and Letters in 1978. In Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, his old studio, renovated by one of his daughters, is located in a bourrine and is both a place of exhibition and memory.
Régis Delene-Bartholdi. Born in 1956 in La Roche-sur-Yon, this painter is the grandson of Frederic Bartholdi (the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty). His work, both abstract and figurative, is largely inspired by his travels, starting with his first, New York, between 1985 and 1988. We also find in his works traces of his travels in the Mediterranean basin and Africa (sand, paper, bark, silk).
Cinema
The Vendée has been and continues to be the setting for many films, including :
Un flic, shot in Saint-Jean-de-Monts by Jean-Pierre Melville with Alain Delon in 1972.
The same year, many scenes of César et Rosalie by Claude Sautet, with Romy Schneider and Yves Montand were shot on the island of Noirmoutier.
Les Vieux de la vieille (1950) by Gilles Grangier with Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay and Noël-Noël, was shot in Apremont. There are scenes shot in the church as well as in the old village café, now a restaurant named after the film.
Maléfice (1962) by Henri Decoin with Juliette Gréco.
Les Créatures (1965) by Agnès Varda with Michel Piccoli and Catherine Deneuve.
Lancelot du lac (1970) by Eric Rohmer with Fabrice Lucchini.
In February 2011, part of the film by Cédric Kahn, Pour une vie meilleure (released in 2012), starring Guillaume Canet and Leïla Bekhti, was filmed in the Vendée, notably in Château-d'Olonne in the Cayola restaurant, in Sables-d'Olonne, in Jard-sur-Mer and Longeville and Olonne-sur-Mer
En Solitaire (2013), by Christophe Offenstein with Francois Cluzet, Guillaume Canet, Virginie Effira, was partly shot in Sables-d'Olonne during the Vendée Globe.
Lulu femme nue, released in 2013, starring Karin Viard, was almost entirely shot in the department, in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie among others.
Also in 2013, the second part of the Adventures of Little Nicolas, Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas, was entirely filmed in the Vendée, on the island of Noirmoutier and in particular on the beach of the Ladies in the district of Bois de la Chaize, whose beach huts had dressed for the occasion in acidulous colors of turquoise blue and lemon yellow.
