La Petite Escalère: The Haim Garden

“But the route that I prefer and which I often voluntarily indulge in is the one that follows the right bank of the Adour; it is an old towpath, dotted with farms and beautiful houses. I undoubtedly love it for its naturalness, this mix of nobility and familiarity which is specific to the South-West.” Roland Barthes, “The Walker of the Adour”, L’Humanité, September 10, 1977.

In the Landes, between Bayonne and Peyrehorade, on the banks of the Adour, Jeannette Leroy, photographer, and Paul Haim, art dealer, created a sculpture garden around a modest farm, La Petite Escalère, in the 1970s.

With the help of the faithful gardener Gilbert Carty, among canals, bridges, railway sleepers, trees and flowers, they installed around fifty works, often monumental, by artists such as Rodin, Maillol, Niki de Saint Phalle, Zao Wou-Ki, Françoise Lacampagne, Cárdenas, Mark Di Suvero, Léger, Matta, Zigor… Paul installed the sculptures and, to make them disappear into nature, Jeannette planted a shrub, rose bushes, dahlias, an oak, a maple, a ginkgo, a Caucasian walnut… “I don’t want this garden to become nonsensical!” she said.

Paul Haim excelled in evoking the captivating beauty of La Petite Escalère: “The nonchalant visitor will pass from the shade of the Barthes to the clarity of the Moura, from the freshness of the fountains to the warmth of the forest. The other side of a bush, he will be surprised by an unusual presence. Immutable. […] Far from the bustling world, to be nothing, to watch the clouds move by, to contemplate the places of happiness.”

Text in French only