Herbiers à renoncules sur la Dordogne
Préambule – Après son inauguration à l’ EuroMAB 2017, l’exposition sur la bassin de la Dordogne va tourner dans les départements. Voici sa présentation en anglais, traduit par Karen, grand merci. Ce texte déjà publié en français ici m’a été inspiré lors de l’année passée à illustrer l’importance du classement UNESCO de cette portion de territoire français.
The Dordogne River Basin, a perfect example of eternal France, centers us and gives us peace, with its sceneries that nourish the soul.
What mysterious power can emanate from beautiful scenery? The eyes look far beyond the horizon line. As long as humans can mingle their soul with that of the landscape around them, they will be able to live poetically on this earth, said the poet and philosopher Hölderlin.
I like to discover a place that speaks to me, where I feel at peace with the world. I take great pleasure in passionately contemplating this moving beauty, the inexhaustible reserve of dreams. I’m grounded in this splendor and joyful for this moment of pure pleasure. I thank this life that has given me the ability to see this poetic brilliance.
France is a miracle of diverse sceneries. Each one of us can find a bit of their inner geography and a lot of their pastoral dreams. My panoramas are precisely chosen skylights, selective cut-outs, of what seems to me engaging, harmonious and unchanging. These archetypal sceneries embodied by romanticism seemingly inscribed in the history and imagination of each one of us. For this reason, they exert an unalterable and universal fascination.
Sceneries are treasures of the soul because they are diffusers of memory and loaded with emotional power indispensable to the spirit and the senses. In this epoch, wrapped up and confused, their evolution in time is slow compared to our lives.
The silence at dawn enveloped the space around me and my spirit was gradually calmed. And I was overwhelmed by a sense of freedom. At this moment in life, the notion of exterior and interior lose their rationale. I forget myself and open a bigger interior space, a generator of receptivity, calm and peace, which ties me naturally to all that exists. Thus, the connection with the countryside leads to a connection between you and others, and helps us to live better together.
They are windows of the past sometimes. They help to center us and to believe we are a bit less of a stranger on this earth, a bit less in transit.
The elements of scenery (trees, rocks, birds…) capture our attention without monopolizing it. These places of rejuvenation that we seek in a cyclic fashion offer an ideal support to meditate, step back and find our creative spirit. By stimulating our senses and connecting us to the present moment, they relax us, favoring the wonder constituting an essential element of individual and social well-being.
And what if the most important heritage of France was… its scenery.