– In Nice, a final farewell to the artist Ben and his wife
More than a thousand people paid their last respects to the couple on Thursday, who died last week within a few hours of each other.
Published today at 2:46 p.m.
The two coffins of Ben Vautier and his wife Annie, each covered with an Occitan flag, were placed side by side on Thursday in front of a photo of them.
AFP
Subscribe now and enjoy the audio playback feature.
BotTalk
More than a thousand people paid tribute Thursday in a park in the center of Nice to love and exuberance by greeting the artist Ben and his wife Annie Vautier, who died a week earlier within a few hours of each other , after 60 years of living together.
Born in Naples (Italy) in 1935, of Franco-Swiss nationality, Ben had lived in Nice (southeast of France) since the age of 14 and had founded the “École de Nice” there with Arman, Yves Klein and Martial Raysse. He was both an iconoclastic popular artist and a king of merchandise.
On Thursday the two coffins of Ben and his wife, each covered with an Occitan flag, were placed side by side in front of a large photo of the couple kissing, to the sound of a vibrant “Bella Ciao”, an Italian song of revolt which has become a universal symbol of the fight for freedom, revisited by the Nice group Nux Vomica.
Last week, Annie Vautier suffered a stroke and died a few days later. In the hours that followed, Ben, known for his slogans written in handwritten letters on a black background, killed himself at the age of 88 in their house full of works of art, on the heights of Nice.
“Ben is not dead”
A photo of the house was prominently displayed at the entrance to the park, behind plants installed in bidets or sinks, while many participants in the ceremony wore black t-shirts emblazoned with Ben’s famous “scriptures”.
Bernard Blistène, honorary director of the Museum of Modern Art at the Center Pompidou in Paris, paid tribute to an artist “whose work apes a naive freshness to remind us that there would always be time to change the circus of our world into a theater “.
The two coffins were taken to be cremated in privacy, while everyone was invited to place a flower in front of the couple’s photo and sign registers. “Thank you Ben”, “Ben is not dead”, “Farewell friends”, “Ben, your departure is art”, we could read.
“Annie, living with Ben isn’t easy. But Annie, you know, living with Ben is really living. Well, living with Annie is unexpected. But Ben, you proved it to us, living without Annie is simply hopeless. This is the love with which you have dazzled us,” greeted the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi.
While the city’s Museum of Naive Arts has just closed a vast year-long exhibition dedicated to the artist, the councilor announced that a debate would be opened with the family to find where and how Nice could “continue to tell the world that (Ben is) alive.
“The Tribune of Books”
The “Tribune de Genève” offers you shared readings, reviews, book news, reports and your favorites.To log in
AFP
Did you find an error? Please report it to us.
0 comments
