La Maison Bleue is an edifice of Art Brut located in Dives-sur-Mer. Created by Euclides Ferrera da Costa between 1957 and 1977, the site is an exceptional testimony of Art Brut in Normandy. Born in Portugal, da Costa became a French citizen in 1947 and purchased a 300 m2 plot near a railway and the Tréfimétaux factory in 1950. He began his work three years after receiving a disability pension for tuberculosis.
The complex is an open-air mosaic created from recovery materials, glass, and earthenware on a cement base. The first element is a monument dedicated to the dog Laika, created in 1957. Other works include the Petit Moulin and the Tour Eiffel in 1961, and the Grand Moulin in the early 1970s. Over twenty years of creation, da Costa developed a great savoir-faire, using colors and mirror fragments to create a sense of rhythm and light.
The garden is filled with a dozen or fifteen miniature elements. Many have a religious inspiration as da Costa wanted to sacralize his small plot with prayers and ex-votos, including the Sacré-Cœur and the basilicas of Sainte-Rita de Cascia and Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux. Because the work is fragile, a metal structure was installed in 2005 to protect it from rain, and various restoration operations have been conducted to preserve the delicate mosaics.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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