By Lisette Schumacher
122 x 89 cm, 2019
Acrylic on panel

From the series Sainte Marie de La Tourette

Sainte Marie de La Tourette is a Dominican Order priory, located on a hillside near Lyon, France, designed by the architect Le Corbusier, the architect’s final building completed in 1961.

Recently Lisette traveled to the monastery where she stayed overnight in one of the hundred ‘cells’ where back in the days monks in training used to live. She was received very hospitable by the friars and as a guest she was allowed to wander around almost the entire building, attend the services in the small chapel and the church and have shared meals in the large eating room together with other guests from different countries.
Lisette’s first encounter with the church’s chapel, crypt and choir was when she wandered through the monastery at nighttime. She recognised the safe door as the entrance to the church. The door was slightly open and she walked inside to discover she could not see anything.
After adapting to the dark the immensely large and cold concrete structure slowly unfolded in shades of black and blue. She could now make out the outlines of the crypt, choir and chapel. She had to wait till next morning to see the church in its full grandeur during the morning service. Still this nightly encounter left an impression.
For this quadriptych Lisette used the mystical atmosphere of the dark space, only lit by strikes of moonlight as starting point.