United in life. United in art. United in love. United in death. United in homage.
Annie and Ben Vautier, who died on June 5 a few hours apart, arrived and left side by side, each in their coffin covered with the Occitan flag, during their public funerals celebrated this Thursday morning on the reflecting pool of the Promenade du Paillon.
Funerals open to all Nice residents. A postponed funeral. Mixing in the same black and white vibration like Ben, sorrow and humor.
Of the 1,400 people participating in these special farewells, there were obviously the children, grandchildren, great-grandsons, siblings of the deceased couple, artists – Max Cartier, Noël Dolla, Eric Garence, Patrick Moya, Frédéric Altmann… – personalities. All grouped together in a square of translucent chairs. Behind, in another space, the public. Anonymous people. Admirers of the artist. People who had the chance to approach him, to talk to him “I’ve loved him for 10 years, since he stopped drinking, smiles Colette. I found him full of generosity and he accepted his doubts. He created a buzz until the end and that’s good…”
Some remember “eccentric exchanges” at the exhibition of the naive art museum “We are all crazy”. Others are right there “with the heart and the mind for the couple and the family”.
Message, flowers, emotion
Fun. Admiration. Pain. That many hands express with colorful markers on the white pages of large notebooks made available. Selected pieces: “Art never dies… Ben in the firmament of posterity… Ben and Annie, where are you?… Vote Ben… The art of choosing one’s life and its end too… United forever… On track for eternity… The work of art is you two…” The words. Flowers. A table covered with lilies, roses, carnations, daisies… allows everyone to place a branch in front of the giant poster of Annie and Ben.
It’s 10:45 a.m. Under a blazing sun, the coffins arrive via Place Masséna. Alone. Only followed by Cristou Daurore, champion of Nissardity, bearer of the Occitan flag. Crowned with the song of the Occitan nation performed by the 4 musicians of the local group Nux Vomica. Placed on supports with Old Nice in the background, as requested by Annie and Ben’s family.
Robert Roux, the culture assistant, serves as the guiding light for the ceremony. His voice is broken. Too much emotion. Enlivened by the photos punctuating the life of the couple, which scroll on a screen near the double portrait of this unclassifiable duo in the middle of a kiss.
Two inspiring and extraordinary people
It’s time to speak out. Those of Bernard Blistene, honorary director of the modern art museum of the Pompidou national center, of Hélène Guenin, director of the Museum of modern and contemporary art of Nice, of the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi. All three stir hearts. Make sense. Evoke “this possible surpassing made by this duo… the son of a theater of the absurd… the work aping a naive freshness… the desire to make, to live, to experience desublimated art. .. two inspiring and extraordinary people… Free, doubtful, passionate and who will therefore always be alive… forever in the soul of Nice…”
Nissarde Waltz
A little film. Bella Ciao, a song of the Italian resistance that Annie loved to hum. The message of affection from Prince Albert II of Monaco. The tribute is coming to an end. Annie and Ben leave, their souls entwined to Nissa la Bella, the local anthem revisited in a waltz by Nux Vomica.
The crowd applauds this funeral “very beautiful and very sad and without a false note”. In the afternoon, the remains of Annie and Ben turned into flames joining a world where, it seems, life never stops…
