History
article | Reading time5 min
Enter the world of a great politician: Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929). In Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard, Vendée, discover the house and gardens where Clemenceau spent his spring and summer vacations between 1920 and 1929.
A vacation home facing the ocean
The origins of Georges Clemenceau's house and gardens
It was in 1919 (December 5) that Georges Clemenceau rented this modest, typical Vendée house in Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard. He moved in in August 1920, calling it his "horizontal château" or "bicoque".
The owner of the house, Commandant Amédée Luce de Trémont, wanted to give it to Georges Clemenceau free of charge. When Clemenceau refused, a lease was signed for 150 francs a year, which was distributed to the commune's poor.
The vacation home is a simple farmhouse on a dune facing the ocean . Georges Clemenceau wanted a flower garden . So he created this wild and atypical garden. "I live among flowers, but with the sea as a backdrop.
© Hervé Lewandowski / Centre des monuments nationaux
This is my first letter from my horizontal château. Three days ago, I took possession of my sky, my sea and my sand. Without any further effort, I've entered the current of Vendée life, which suits me just fine. I live surrounded by shrimps and lobsters, not to mention a huge carp on the end of a stick. My room is becoming more and more like a sort of Louvre museum, but with fewer pretensions.
August 10, 1920
It was in this house, facing the ocean, that he took up his pen again to write his last works, admiring the sea. "It's white, it's green, what beautiful weather! It's rolling, it's foaming, it's angry!
On his death in 1929, the furnishings of the house were slightly modified by Georges Clemenceau's three children, and adapted to make it a place of remembrance by adding memorabilia, objects and photographs to the rooms.
The State acquired the house and surrounding land in 1931 and 1932. Since 1970, the site has been classified as a historic monument.
Filled with memorabilia, including Georges Clemenceau's travels and a collection of Asian art, this charmingly simple house remains exactly as it was when the "Tiger" died in 1929.
It has been awarded the "Maison des illustres" label.
To make it even more welcoming, and for better conservation, many pieces of furniture have been moved over the years, while respecting the layout intended by Georges Clemenceau.
© Centre des monuments nationaux - Sébastien Arnault
Inside the house
All the comforts!
When Georges Clemenceau moved to Belébat, he didn't give up his Parisian comforts! So he made a few modifications to the house. He added an extension with a summer lounge and gazebo, as well as a garage! He also installed running water, toilets, a bell to call the servants and electricity in 1926.
The kitchen-dining room
It was in this room that Georges Clemenceau entertained his guests in the utmost simplicity . At the table, all guests have a view of the landscape and the sea!
Clotilde Benoni, the cook, serves the guests the game brought in by Albert Boulin, the valet.
Servants' quarters and garage
The servants' quarters and garage are adjacent to the kitchen. In this garage, Clemenceau brought in the Rolls-Royce he had received from one of his admirers in 1920.
In the early days of his arrival at Belébat, a donkey was used to carry luggage up the dune to the house. The servants share the daily life of the "Tiger", who likes to accompany them to the market to meet the locals.
© Hervé Lewandowski / Centre des monuments nationaux
The corridor-library
The corridor-library leads from the bedroom to the kitchen, and also serves the guest rooms.
In this library, Georges Clemenceau stored the books he needed for his writing and thinking - some 1,500 of them! Works on Eastern civilizations, philosophy, history, literature...
Some are even autographed by the people who gave them to him, or annotated by Clemenceau himself.
Guest rooms
The guest rooms are reserved for family, friends and dearest visitors.
As in the rest of the house, they all offer a view of the garden and the sea. The modest pitchwood furnishings include chests of drawers, cabin toilets and mirrors. Bouquet holders and vases are always filled with flowers from the garden.
Claude Monet and his daughter-in-law Blanche Hoschedé, as well as friend and confidante Marguerite Baldensperger, have stayed here.
© Centre des monuments nationaux - Sébastien Arnault
The study bedroom
Clemenceau's bedroom was both a place of meditation and work.
Numerous objects recall his travels in Egypt and Sudan: antelope heads, a crocodile head, a shield and assegais.
The bedroom's sober pitchpin furniture contrasts with that of the summer salon. A private toilet adjoins his room.
His work table is the main feature of the room. Georges Clemenceau spent hours writing in his wicker armchair, facing the garden and the sea.
An avid literary scholar, he wrote two philosophical essays(Au soir de la pensée and Démosthène), a historical work(Grandeur et misère d'une victoire) and a biography of his friend Claude Monet(Claude Monet - Les Nymphéas).
He kept up an extensive correspondence, notably with Claude Monet and Marguerite Baldensperger.
It was also from this room that Clemenceau liked to look out over the sea and his garden: he had his bed raised so he could contemplate the view outside!
© Centre des monuments nationaux - Sébastien Arnault
The summer lounge
As early as 1921, Georges Clemenceau had a separate area added to the west side of the original house: the kiosk and summer salon.
Guests, including politicians and journalists, were not invited into the other rooms of "La Bicoque" .
The kiosk, nicknamed "Trianon de bruyère" by Clemenceau, is a shelter made of faggots. It extends the living room and offers a view of the garden and the sea. Here, guests are invited to take tea in the Japanese ritual style.
The summer salon features much of the furniture that Le Tigre had brought back from his home in Bernouville, Eure, his Paris apartment and his many travels: armchairs in a variety of styles, a few tables and secretaries, Japanese vases and prints, two bronze reproductions of Hercules, engravings of famous views of Venice inspired by Canaletto's drawings, and photographic reproductions of landscapes by Jean-Honoré Fragonard.
© Centre des monuments nationaux - Sébastien Arnault
The garden
Georges Clemenceau, precursor of "Silence, ça pousse"!
As early as 1920, Georges Clemenceau conceived and realized the garden on the dune, consisting of a flowered terrace in front of the house overlooking the ocean, a bed of golden charcoal and another of roses at the back of the house. Despite the doubts of nurserymen such as Henri De Vilmorin, who conducted a soil analysis, and his friend Claude Monet, he succeeded .
He bought in large quantities to anticipate losses, and every spring he "repaired" his garden. Georges Clemenceau wanted his garden to be free and unconstrained. He rejected the shapes and geometry of the gardens favored by the aristocracy and the political and financial bourgeoisie of the day.
The garden is divided into four sections:
- The flower garden, or flower terrace, between the house and the sea, framed by heather fences with a small walking path.
- The shrubbery garden, which extends the flower garden and faces the sea.
- The flower enclosure to the north of the house, which marked the entrance.
- The wooded grounds on sand.
© Centre des monuments nationaux - Sébastien Arnault
You'll have plenty of time to come and contemplate my garden without flowerbeds, baskets, beds, copses or paths...
August 30, 1923
