Documentary

Ce tant bizarre monsieur Rops

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Thierry Zeno

Philippe Dasnoy

Namur province in Belgium. A gate is standing at the end of a snow-covered drive. A strange guide sporting a grey moustache leads us into a country house that is almost in ruins, surrounded by unkempt gardens: Thozée castle.We learn that a famous artist named Félicien lived here during the 19th century. He had a son and daughter, but left his wife to pursue his career in Paris. Through the engravings and paintings we discover what we had suspected all along: this is where Félicien Rops used to live.The letters of Félicien Rops and extracts from Camille Lemonnier’s book about the painter help us to enter the artist’s work: a sometimes cruel but often amused look at 19th century lifestyles, and subjects heavily influenced by eroticism but haunted by death. The daring attitude to life expressed in the man’s work, his hatred of hypocrisy, his determination to speak his mind, his criticism of the middle classes and religions generated many feelings of hostility towards him. His talent and his attitude proved to be irresistible to many artists and writers during his lifetime: Baudelaire, Barbey d’Aurevilly, J-K Huysmans, the Goncourt brothers, Emile Zola, Guy de Maupassant, Daudet, Verlaine, Mallarmé, Manet, Rodin and Nadar. As for his female admirers...

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