By Manabu Matsunaga | Vol. 5: Raymond Isidore's Garden

MATSUNAGA Manabu

Vol. 5: The Garden of Raymond Isidore

A "Flood of Light"—The Radiance of a Garden Cultivated Over 33 Years by a Gravedigger

This installment features the Garden of Raymond Isidore (born 1900, died 1964). Located in the suburbs of Chartres, about 90 km southwest of Paris, France. He lost his father early in life, worked various jobs, and ultimately spent his life as a gravedigger. During this time, he owned a house near the cemetery and spent 33 years creating this garden entirely on his own.

Photos and text by Manabu Matsunaga

His house is known as La Maison Picassiette. He began decorating it by collecting broken plates. Neighbors constantly insulted him, calling him a 'pic' (thief) and 'assiette' (plate), thus 'picassiette' (free meal). This is how the house got its name.

There are two reasons Chartres captivates me.

The first is the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral, one of Europe's largest Gothic structures.
I long to be bathed in the myriad streams of light that pour from its stained glass.
The second is the garden of the gravedigger Raymond Isidore. I wish to touch the mosaic of brilliantly shining plates.

The decoration, which began inside the house, spilled out into the outdoor garden, blending with artificial flowers.

Using fragments of rough, broken crockery, glass, and concrete, Isidore freely incorporated motifs from various religions, buildings, animals, and flowers, sealing off his property. Perhaps it was the only space where he could protect himself from the outside world.

Was it an expression of love for something? Or perhaps the afterlife he experienced as a gravedigger?
We can no longer hear his words.

Standing before the colossal Notre Dame Cathedral, bathed in the dazzling, reflected flood of light alongside its translucent stained glass, one must be prepared to be drawn into the fragments of Picassiette.

La Maison Picassiette
Chartres Official Website
http://www.chartres.fr/culture/les-arts/maison-picassiette/