The bust positioned three-quarters, pointing its gaze towards the viewer, has a mirror effect.
The oval of the face is actually turned slightly to the right in relation to the Mona Lisa.
By detailing the drawing, we find the drape of the garment, the veil, the curly hair with a parting, the eyebrows, the eyes, the nose and the half smile… everything is there.
A happy woman who can only be compared to Marie-Thérèse Bernotte, his wife, a beautiful tribute 500 years later.
Laurent Cadeau
President of Maecene Arts
Pierre Bernotte is a French painter born on February 19, 1929 in Lubersac and died in Limoges on July 13, 1996.
A committed and unclassifiable man, he seduces the painter photographer Raoul Hausmann, figurehead of Dadaism, who took refuge in Limoges during the Second World War. They make a short film together "The man who is afraid of bombs".
A dynamic work which is not limited to a style. Theatrical communication, different languages, different vectors, adaptations, movements, translations, constant questioning.
A card game that reminds us that during the darkest moments of the war, even in the worst dictatorships, it was essential to get together around a deck of cards. The eyes could still cross around a table to talk about the absurdity of war, play, dream. Bernotte, like many Surrealists, created this card game, a tarot out of his imagination. "So let’s play!" said Breton to stand up, to dream of the world among friends around emblems such as the flame of love, the star of dream, the wheel of revolution, the lock of knowledge. The means are rudimentary, the sketches, the cards are used because they lived, they were touched, they were exchanged.
There was no loser recalled Eluard. Let us not forget those moments of essential humanity which for the first time in history are confiscated by the authorities.
Marie-Helene Barreau Montbazet
Vice President of Maecene Arts
Doctor of Art History