Agnès Varda — Correspondances

Agnès Varda's Correspondances exhibition highlights the connections linking her to this unique place. It is a window to her enjoyment of relationships sustained through correspondence, her passion for postcards, and her references to the emblematic figure of the postman.

Her works were rich and poetic—from photography and installations to films, documentaries, and short films. Her work also confronted the social issues of the latter half of the 20th century, covered the margins and precarity of society: Vagabond (1985), The Gleaners and I (2000), and also delved into women's status, like in the film One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977).

Photographs by Agnès Varda and artworks related to some of her movies, such as The Gleaners and I, and Two Years Later, are presented alongside numerous pieces from her personal collection: letters exchanged with artists like Calder, Pierre François, and Chris Marker, collections of old postcards, and testimonies from people who have enjoyed her movies. 

The winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1964 for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Jacques Demy is one of the leading figures of French cinema, just like his wife, Agnès Varda. His movies have become a part of the nation's collective memory. Agnès Varda wrote a series of postcards to him in 2010, which were published posthumously. 

Agnès Varda wrote a series of postcards to him in 2010, which were published posthumously. 

"She was so lovely. I even gave her a painting, as I'm an amateur painter." The portrait of Agnès Varda and Jacky Patin was displayed as part of the exhibition. 

Jacky Patin appeared in front of Agnès Varda's camera three times: in Two Years Later (2002), in the short film The 3 Buttons (2015) in which he portrayed a postman, and then in Faces Places (2017) that was co-directed by Agnès Varda and the artist JR, in which he portrayed himself. 

"When I filmed Two Years Later with the same characters as in The Gleaners and I, I showed those who had agreed to talk to me that I hadn't just walked away from them. After, I found heart-shaped potatoes in my mailbox, in my hotel room … because when you harvest, you get to the heart of things." 

The installation in the Villa Alicius (Postman Cheval's home) consisted of a fabulous assortment of items, including conversations between Agnès and the gleaners, her so-called Potato Stars...