Chinon, a very cinematic setting
With its Royal Fortress and its old medieval center Chinon allows filmmakers to go back in time. Thus Bertrand Tavernier came there to shoot The Princess of Montpensier in 2010. In 1965, André Hunebelle's Fantômas se déchaîne featured the newly built Chinon nuclear power plant in a futuristic setting. But the very first feature film shot in Chinon was in 1946, the Capitan by Robert Vernay. Water has flowed under the bridges of the Vienne region until the latest one, the third part of Qu'on qu'on a fait au bon Dieu by Philippe de Chaveron. In the third part of this popular comedy, the city of Chinon is particularly visible and highlighted. Elected officials and shopkeepers are delighted. The attractiveness of Chinon as a tourist destination is stimulated by images of a beautiful town like Chinon on the big screen. The local authorities are not mistaken: they always give a warm welcome to film directors and film crews. Attracting filmmakers has become a cultural and tourism issue for the regions.
Illustrious people inspired by the Véron and its confluence
Of the 245 Maisons des Illustres in France, the region of Chinon alone is home to three that preserve the memory of remarkable artists. Thus, we can discover the intimacy of two artists' couples, in Huisme and in Candes-Saint-Martin. We can also visit the Devinière, the birthplace of the great Rabelais, in Seuilly, transformed into a museum. In Huisme, the Maison d'Illustres is the one where Max Ernst (1891-1976) and Dorothea Tanning (1910-2012) settled, in 1955, in the farm of Le Pin in Huismes, which they nicknamed Le Pin Perdu. German painter, sculptor and poet, Max Ernst is a major figure of 20th century art, representative of the Dada and Surrealist movements, known for his novel-collages. With his wife, the American artist Dorothea Tanning, they transformed the winegrower's farm. Here, they found the calm and space conducive to their creativity. The farmhouse and the barn house their respective homes and studios. Today, the painting studio and the storeroom host temporary exhibitions, conferences, concerts... Upstairs, the documentation center is dedicated to the two artists. In addition, there is the vast garden imagined by Max and Dorothea in 1959. Embedded by Max Ernst in its surrounding wall, we admire three large academic bas-reliefs.
It is opposite the confluence of the Vienne and the Loire, in the listed village of Candes-Saint-Martin, that the Maison Henri Dutilleux, in fact the Maison Dutilleux-Joy, has just been inaugurated. The composer Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) and his wife, the concert pianist Geneviève Joy (1919-2009), regularly stayed in the region before acquiring this house in Candes-Saint-Martin in 1981. The musician couple donated their house to the commune, which has since been renovated by the community of communes. This place of inspiration for Henri Dutilleux has become an artist's residence that allows young creators and performers to have a place to live, work and think. Like the Maison Max Ernst, but in a minimalist version, a small garden faces the Maison Dutilleux-Joy, modest and charming with its collection of romantic roses.
At the Carroi: Rabelais by Delacroix and Olivier Debré's centenary
The medieval quarter of Chinon is home to one of the most beautiful museums in Touraine, in the heart of the Grand Carroi. Housed in the Maison des États généraux, it presents a collection of more than 8,000 works of art and objects, which bear witness to the history of the city, from prehistory to the 19th century. Two major works deserve your attention: the exceptional cope of Saint Mexme, the largest 12th century fabric preserved in Europe, and the portrait of Rabelais by Eugène Delacroix. For the centenary of the birth of Olivier Debré (1920-1999), a representative of lyrical abstraction, the Carroi exhibited the original cartoons created by the artist in 1998, when he won the competition for the creation of stained glass windows for the collegiate church of Saint-Mexme in Chinon, which was being restored. The cartoons he presented for the competition reveal pure forms, cut out of colored paper and glued to the design of each window. The blue, yellow and orange are tinted in the mass of the paper, while the purple is worked by the artist to obtain a shade that harmonizes perfectly with the medieval murals of the building. The stained glass windows were made by the glassmaker Dhonneur, with whom Olivier Debré used to work. He used an original and delicate technique for this work of art, which consists of sandwiching the colored glass between two transparent glasses to avoid assembling it with lead, which would make the overall design too heavy. The stained glass windows created from Olivier Debré's cartoons were installed in 2006. Visible during guided tours, they filter the light and create a play of color on the white of the tufa walls.
Art in its earthy and local dimension
In Savigny-en-Véron, the Véron Ecomuseum shares a heritage that adds a bucolic dimension to its artistic value. This eco-museum is located in a modern building in the heart of 4 hectares of hedged meadows where Poitevin goats, Ouessant sheep, Poitou donkeys, Breton mares and Norman cows are raised. To be discovered: the collections relating to the wine of Chinon, lace and embroidery or a collection of old photographs of the Véron. Since 2021, this anthropology museum has joined forces with the Le Carroi history museum in Chinon to offer cross-disciplinary exhibitions based on a theme. For example, an exploration of the link between science and myths and beliefs. The different cultural spaces of the Chinon area offer activities for different audiences in the summer, especially for the general public and children, but also throughout the year. Workshops on stained glass or illumination, guided tours and documents enrich your discoveries. And, of course, the remarkable exhibitions scheduled at the Fortress of Chinon are not to be missed!
Finally, it is worth noting that this territory attracts and inspires craftsmen and women, of whom there are more than forty in the various towns and villages of the Chinon area: ceramists, potters, cabinetmakers, designers, jewelry makers, etc
