The fresco of an Aveyron village unveiled… after more than sixty years of waiting

The project dates back more than sixty years. In fact, it was an idea of ​​Daniel Constans and Rosemonde Haurez-Puech: to decorate the large wall of the 17th century bridge, listed by the Bâtiments de France, with a large fresco. The association “Pour que vive le moulin, aujourd’hui et demain” had even presented to the department in 1962, a project developed with Pierre Conquet, a multifaceted artist, but it had not been able to be realized. However, it had not been forgotten, and during the 2023 neighborhood party, Daniel Constans had successfully spoken about it to the mayor, Eric Picard. Promise kept.

The fresco was created during the month of June, under the watchful eye of Ghislaine Carayol, municipal elected official, by Maartje Heymans, an artist from the Netherlands who moved to France in 2006. A graduate of the Ecole des fine arts in Amsterdam, she studied painting and sculpture for eight years.

The Moulin fresco is a beautiful achievement: painted with care, from a postcard from 1910. It represents the life of this place with a few inhabitants, two cattle perhaps loaded with sacks of grain that they bring to the mill. A pictorial success, with one small drawback however. It seems very small on this large wall. For Daniel Constans, “this fresco is an added value for the neighborhood”. Eric Picard suggests decorating the bottom of the wall “In order to make it stand out”.

The tanners

Recently, the neighborhood has been restructured, with landscaped areas, the creation of sidewalks, the renovation of the cross, the installation of benches, ground lighting, a bucket, a pulley and a chain that have been placed on the 17th century well. The association intends to continue along this path by repatriating the turbine stored in a nearby parking lot and by accentuating the flowering. Relaunched, it could expand from rue de la Grave and towards the college and its new name has already been suggested: “Les tanneurs”.