REPORTING – A vibrant public tribute was paid to the artist and his wife Annie on Wednesday morning on Place Masséna. 1400 people from Nice had made the trip.
Le Figaro Nice
One day in 1962, he decided to take over the skyline during a remarkable performance on the Promenade des Anglais. Half a century and a few years later, Ben now signs “the sky and the clouds”according to the clever expression used Wednesday morning by Bernard Blistene, during the public tribute paid to the artist and his wife, on the reflecting pool of Place Masséna, in Nice.
The honorary director of the modern art museum of the Center national Pompidou and friend of the artist with black and white words saluted the memory of the man who spent his life refusing “an art world stifled by the overbidding of exegesis”. A “child of the track” who never ceased to address “to everyone” while desecrating both religions and sexual taboos for example. An accomplished artist and a complete man until June 5. At 3 a.m. that night, his other half passed away. Annie’s death seemed unbearable to him and Ben, whose real name was Benjamin Vautier, then ended his life. “Your lives are full of incandescent moments. Above all, between the two of you, there was this impossibility of leaving each other physically and psychologically. You had started a two-way march to fight against the only adversary: time”said Bernard Blistene at the podium, addressing the coffins of the two lovers who were enthroned a few meters away.
Read also“A brilliant genius”: in Nice, tributes follow after the tragic death of Ben, the artist of black and white words
“The 400 shots, the adolescence of art”
There are 1,400 of them, from the couple’s children to friends, including figures from the art world, politicians and anonymous people, who gathered on Wednesday for a final farewell, under a blazing sun. Above the coffins, a moving photo of Annie and Ben kissing was projected. A short film full of melancholy (accentuated by music by Philippe Sarde) retracing the couple’s thousand and one lives, from the 1960s to today, was also broadcast. “Well, these are the 400 shots, the adolescence of art”, commented in turn at the desk Hélène Guenin, the director of Mamac, the museum of modern and contemporary art in Nice. And to add: “We feel like children of the energy they created in Nice”.
Christian Estrosi, who himself maintained a sincere friendship with the artist couple, addressed them a few words in his name but also to “the great people of Nice and all those who have a thought for Ben and Annie”. Like Prince Albert II of Monaco who entrusted the Riviera city councilor “all his affection” towards those close to the couple. “Thanks for the conversations Ben. You spoke as you thought and that always does a mayor good when you speak to him frankly”expressed Christian Estrosi. “This day is sad but it is also happy because you bring us together around you to talk about love and art. […] There are gold diggers, you, Ben, you were an art digger”, he continued. And again addressing the artist: “Rest assured that we will work to ensure that what you leave us is you, it is you two. We will do everything to keep your work alive”.
Messages of love and affection
Once the ceremony was over, the coffins returned to the hearses under the emotional and often misty gaze of the crowd. A short funeral march on Place Masséna accompanied by the Nice anthem Nissa la Bella, played in a carnivalesque and colorful tune such as the couple would no doubt have appreciated. “We expected him to come out of the box, but no, he’s really dead”, said Daniel, a 69-year-old from Nice, with a tight throat. “We came to pay homage to the figure of Nice”, for their part, confided two retirees flocked to their choir’s t-shirts, designed 12 years ago by Ben. Many anonymous people have also engraved a few words of tribute in the guestbooks made available to the public. Small testimonies of love and affection, often linked to the artist’s own formulas: “’I have too many ideas’: I’m not a fan of the last one”, we could read in particular. The two coffins were then taken to the crematorium for a private ceremony early in the afternoon.
