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| unless stated otherwise images (2025) are courtesy of Tipeek Photos |
In the centre of Vismes, a small village with 475 inhabitants (2020), located in the Somme department in the Hauts-de-France region, there is a house, now uninhabited, whose walls and the garden along the street were decorated in former years.
Life and works
This art environment was created by Paul Velay who was born in Vismes on February 15, 1904 and died, also in Vismes, on March 8, 1984.
There is no information about the job or jobs he had.
It is also not clear when he started decorating the garden and the exterior of the house. However, it could be that he began when he retired, as is the case with many other non-professional artists. This would mean that he started his decorative project in the 1960s.
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| another view of the fence along the street |
After Velay's death, a family member probably lived in the house until around the turn of the century.
After that, the house, which was inherited by a granddaughter, remained uninhabited because she did not want to sell or rent the house. She didn't arrange any maintenance also.
The current status of the decorations
As can be seen in the image at the very top and the one directly above, the garden in front of the house is separated from the street by a fence decorated with triangular mosaics on top and creations depicting butterflies below.
These decorations appear to be in reasonably good condition.
This does not apply to the garden, however.
For example, from the fence to the house there is a path formed by colorful pieces of stone and glass, as can be seen in the image above, where the decoration only appears after the overlying vegetation has been removed.
There was also a small castle with a small moat, as can be seen in a photo below from the year 2000, which is now completely overgrown with greenery.
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| this image (2000) and the next two (2000/2015) by Laurent Jacqui |
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The front of the house is decorated by Paul Velay over the entire width with colorful frescoes, depicting all kinds of scenes.
The image below shows two people at a table with a meal. The bouquet next to the entrance door that welcomes visitors also still looks good.
This also applies to the wall decoration below, respectively a farmer with his horse ploughing and a hunter with his dog.
The walls of the buildings surrounding the garden generally still look solid, but Google Streetview shows that, for example, the roof of the building on the right side of the garden is quite badly damaged.
It is therefore doubtful whether there are people or institutions willing to undertake a restoration.
Уважаемый Хенк - Спасибо!
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