Solange's son explains

After Solange passed away, I have recovered 1537 drawings made with coloured pencils on rough paper sheets. There are birds on almost all the drawings, as well as flower decorated frames. Most of the topics are taken from mailbox ads and TV magazines.

 Each time she would write down at the bottom of the sheet of paper what the picture is about, so that "people who see them one day understand what I have done", as Solange used to say. She took to drawing when she was 70. She would draw everyday until the end of her life. Even when she had to undergo a treatment at the hospital, she would draw the back of menu sheets that were brought to her by nurses. Her life has not always looked like that. While being trapped at home, Solange had found the way to fly off to the outside world.

We used to live in a small village which didn't have any shop. On wednesdays Solange would take the village bus to go shopping. She was diabetic and incotinent. One day, while she was sitting in the bus, she couldn't control herself. The administration reacted immediately by excluding her from the bus. I took her defence  in vain with the help of a lawyer. She kept quiet. Everyday, she would be sitting with her rough paper on her knees, spending her time dreaming away, far away from daily life, or drawing what she liked and what she was also deprived of. During six years, she would only beg for rough paper sheets and mailbox ads.

Then the administrations were back again. The police once came in order to put her into a retirement home by force. They asked me to change her. They didn't leave the room when I started to undress her. I don't know if they looked away when she was naked. She would often say they had acted wrong towards us. She has never forgotten. After her death, one of her longstanding friends told me she had died of a broken heart. She's left her everyday feelings behind.

Pascal Noèbès (tél: +336 62 92 19 90)

 We can find more drawings in the albums to right column