In 1959, Jean Cocteau prepared his final film, Le Testament d’Orphée, shot in the quarries of Les Baux-de-Provence and at the Victorine Studios in Nice.
Cocteau invited Lucien Clergue to take as many photographs as he wished during filming. These images remain iconic and timeless, speaking only of poetry. All the photographs presented were printed during the artist’s lifetime and are numbered, signed, or annotated on the back.
The quarries of Les Baux continue to evoke a sense of mystery and magic, inspiring today’s greatest creators.
The friendship between Cocteau and Clergue is deeply touching, and intimate correspondence between the two demonstrates their mutual admiration and inspiration.
Concomitantly, this correspondence has been republished by Actes Sud, enriched with reproductions of handwritten letters, drawings, telegrams, and envelopes—a rare testimony that revives the collaboration of two poets: one writing with pen, the other with light.
Galerie Patrice Trigano
After more than twenty years promoting Surrealist Art, 1950s Abstraction, Pop Art, and Nouveau Réalisme, the gallery now alternates with exhibitions of major 20th-century masters such as Chagall, Hundertwasser, Matisse, Miró, and Picasso, and shows featuring living internationally renowned artists like Philippe Hiquily, Mel Ramos, Chu Teh Chun, Lucien Clergue, Allen Jones, and Manolo Valdés.