Discover Maison Picassiette, Chartres' mosaic masterpiece of naïve art

Maison Picassiette in Chartres, Eure-et-Loir is one of few architectural masterpieces of naïve art in France, created by a man who wished to escape his working conditions by becoming an artist, but whose achievements were disparaged and attributed to mental illness.

It is the product of Raymond Isidore, the sweeper at Chartres’ cemetery, who picked up materials during services and spent over 27,000 hours of his spare time, spanning three decades, to build it.

The work, life, comments and late recognition of Mr Isidore’s work bears many similarities to Ferdinand Cheval, the builder of the Palais Idéal du facteur Cheval in Hauterives (Drôme), France’s other masterful architectural work of naïve art.

Both were working-class people who collected materials they found lying around. It was shells for Mr Cheval. It was broken plates, shattered glass and bits of enamel for Mr Isidore.

Both buildings were denounced by art experts, the result of troubled minds, they declared. Yet both were eventually listed as a Monument historique after they died.

“The absence of any recognition, this class contempt, hurt Mr Isidore his whole life. This is what pains me,” said Patrick Macquaire, the author of ‘Le Monde selon Isidore’, a book that considers the architectural merits of Mr Isidore’s work.

This is because Mr Macquaire considers him to be an architect, first and foremost, rather than an artist. He learned of Mr Isidore’s life when he was commissioned by the city of Chartres, for a work on the Hauts de Chartres’ working-class district, where Maison Picassiette is located.

Mr Isidore lived on 22, rue du Repos in a house he built in 1931. Maison Picassiette took form in 1938, behind closed doors, one bit of broken plate after the other.

Consider it a multi-coloured, multi-form work of mosaic art. 

It starts from a little alley, paved with tiny bits of plates. On the left sits the house itself, two rooms decorated with art mosaics from floor to walls and ceilings (see images).

It continues with ‘The chapel’, an arch connecting to ‘La Cour Noire’ (‘The Black yard’) and ‘La Maison d’été’ (‘The summer house’). At the back end of Maison Picassiette are two small-sized gardens where mosaic statues sit. It ends with ‘Le Tombeau de l’esprit’ (‘The Tomb of the spirit’).

Everywhere, mosaics reproduce buildings, animals, flowers, religious representations, sceneries and landscapes. 

Mesmerising, hypnotizing, sprawling, choose whatever word fits best your perspective, representation or understanding of the work. You will need more than one visit anyway.

That is precisely the beauty of it.

“Each visit, I find a new detail. I would educate visitors on it and suddenly stop mid-speech, staring at an angle I had not yet seen, a colour or perspective I did not take into account,” said Tiphaine Herry, the local guide of Maison Picassiette.

A handful of the 43,000 visitors in the last year, mostly locals, came for the eighth or tenth time at Maison Picassiette, often with friends, to show it to them, said Ms Herry. It is Chartres’ second most-visited location after its cathedral.

“Very recently, one visitor told me that the deer is an allegory of Jesus Christ in the Ancient Testament, something I did not know,” she added.

Maison Picassiette has been open to visitors since 1981 when Chartres took possession of it. Ms Herry arrived in 2022. She slowly added new features and activities around the visits, most notably in 2023 after she overheard visitors talking about their tour.

“Many would characterise Mr Isidore as crazy, remembering the billboards and signs we displayed that mention his three stays in a psychiatric hospital,” said Ms Herry, adding she stopped putting the emphasis on it.

Much like Ferdinand Cheval, Raymond Isidore’s architectural endeavour could only be explained through the lens of mental illness in 1930s to 1960s France. He was an ‘original’, a ‘doux dingue’ (harmless nutcase), a deranged person.

The term picassiette itself, Mr Macquaire said, is the contraction of two terms: pique-assiette, initially the parasite, the undesirable; and ‘Picasso de l’assiette’, a pejorative and condescending term to mock his abilities by comparing it to kindergarten Picasso art.

“What is it other than the jealousy of people seeing him building his house the way he wanted?” he said.

“La Maison Picassiette is how Mr Isidore envisioned life, an ongoing race toward happiness,” said Ms Herry, echoing the analysis of Dutch architect Maarten Kloos, made in 1979’s ‘Le paradis terrestre de Picassiette’.

Recently, ‘Le Grand Rêve d’Isidore’, a ten-year long project in the making, was finally finalised by producer Pawel Lisiak and bought by France 3.

“I see this docu-fiction as a tale, an invitation to Raymond Isidore’s wild dream. Once upon a time, there was an eccentric artist, Raymond Isidore, also known as Picassiette. What if he woke up in his house?” said Mr Lisiak.

“This may sound a bit crazy. Raising Mr Isidore from the dead and having an actor play him. I would like to offer a different perspective on the hidden story of a man who has always served the dead, him the cemetery sweeper,” he added.

Only a trailer has been released. The broadcasting date is to be announced.

Maison Picassiette is open to visitors on Mondays from 12:00 to 18:00 and from Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10:00 to 18:00. Opened Sundays and bank holidays from 10:00 to 18:00.