Rock art
The Niaux cave dates back to the Magdalenian period (between 17,000 and 12,000 years ago) and has helped to make the Ariège region famous the world over for its cave art. It is the largest decorated cave, alongside Lascaux and Altamira. The walls are covered with black line drawings that specialists describe as a perfect mastery of the tool. Dozens of bison, horses and ibex have been drawn with charcoal and painted with manganese oxide. The natural relief of the rock was used to emphasize the animal's silhouette.
The painting
Mady de la Giraudière (1922-2018) devoted her life to drawing and nature-influenced painting. She exhibited from the late 50s to the early 70s, becoming one of the leading figures of naive art in France and worldwide. Ryton Cazenave is a watercolorist from Fuxen, who is accustomed to Mediterranean landscapes, Ariege villages, the Château de Foix and the great Pyrenean peaks. Alphonse Roubichou (1861-1938), a Pamiers-born impressionist, was extremely prolific in his day. Joseph Bergès (1878-1956) specialized in portraits and still lifes. He created a monumental fresco in the Faculty of Law in Toulouse. A pupil of Bergès, André Regagnon (1902-1976) received numerous awards for his body of work in shades of gray, green and red. Although born in New York (!) René Gaston-Lagorre (1913-2004) had his studio in Couserans, and was a friend of Matisse, Picasso and Gauguin. A figurative painter, he ended his career in abstract art. Pierre Daboval (1918-2015) painted until the 1970s, when he turned to drawing, with a period of fantasy and eroticism, followed by self-portraits combining humor and his vision of the world. Christian d'Orgeix (1927-2019) is the illustrious descendant of an ancient aristocratic Ariège family and is considered close to Surrealism and Post-Cubism. He turned to sculpture, recycling found objects and painted pebbles.
The sculpture
Although a few bones or horns have been found carved in the Mas d'Azil cave, Ariège has not known any great sculptors, but two contemporary ones are worth mentioning. Claudius de Cap Blanc called himself a "vulvo graphiste". He paints and sculpts vulvas wherever he can, on rocks, on trees, but also in public places... He was the creator of mobile pieces in wood and metal that move thanks to pulleys and mechanisms that can be seen at the Affabuloscope in Mas d'Azil. Nicolas Kessler is the creator of the superb work that can be seen at the top of the allées de Villote in Foix. Humanity is represented by a naked woman carrying a globe between her legs, protected by a portico. His bold, creative projects and creations are motivated by a desire to see better, fairer people.
Cinema and Television
The film Le Retour de Martin Guerre stars Gérard Depardieu and Nathalie Baye. This film tells the story of Arnaud du Tilh, who arrived in the village of Artigat in 1556 and usurped the identity of Martin Guerre, a local boy, duping his wife and the whole village. The film was a great success. The two-part TV film Les Cathares was directed by Stellio Lorenzi in 1966 and starred Jean Topart. Its success brought this part of French history and the Ariege castle of Montségur to the attention of the whole of France.
