If one looks more closely at the monuments, one can notice several things:

*Some intact plates are inserted in the midst of others that are broken

*The technique to differentiate between the materials (china, glass, tiles, mirrors) and the colors, that brings out the pattern from the bottom

*The re-introduction of some pieces, on which something is recorded, such as 'sugar' on a background with flowers: one is tempted to say that this is re-use to confront the consumer society, or a wrongful or extreme consumption, we'll come back upon this..

When the da Costa’s are asked whether they are aware of achievements like theirs, they say they know [Facteur] Cheval and Picassiette from television, but that they never could go there, by lack of a car. Imagine what a meeting between da Costa and Isidore [=Picassiette] might have resulted in ... maybe very disappointing.

They regard the work of Cheval as having been "recovered" after his death: "Cheval, 'they' have seized it after his death"....Who is behind this 'they' ...

We brought them two abundantly illustrated books: Les inspirés du bord des routes by Jacques Lacarrière and Jacques Verroust, and Jardins imaginaires by Bernard Lassus.

They have carefully looked at them, commenting on the pictures, while in general remaining quite positive ( "It's beautiful, it’s well!"), until I showed them pictures of their works: the one by Bernard Lassus was dated: there was an arc of foliage of ivy between the house and Laika, wasn’t it, an arc that supported a lighting; the one by Verroust, on the other hand, generated intense anger indeed: the basin in the foreground totally distorted the perspective and significantly reduced the proportions of Laika, Fatima and the oratory note 3] in the background.

In addition, mrs da Costa said they had never been informed that these photos were published in a book; on the other hand, she has articles from regional newspapers, displayed in a glass box hung on the facade of the house so that visitors can read them, a recent article in Modes de Paris -she was warned after the publication- and another in an almanac of 1966, we have already spoken of.

Furthermore, we have noticed that mr da Costa finds it hard to locate what the pictures represent in reality, as if he had forgotten what he made since he stopped creating -which is unlikely because he continually keeps it well- or as if he had a particular comprehensive vision, incompatible with the fragmented vision that pictures contain. In connection with one of the pictures in Modes de 'Paris, when he had finally recognized that it was about the ground before the entrance, he exclaimed: "This is nothing, it is shit compared to the rest!"

With regard to other aspects of this creation :

1. the family

Besides his wife, who seems to regard the work of her husband as her own, the family (numerous, as they say) both from the one and the other side, does not seem interested in the oeuvre of da Costa: "All stupids!" he says.

When we ask them what will happen with the garden after their death, they say that it matters little, that, for now, they are both there, and they still have time to think about it.

2. the visitors

They were numerous until the diversion of the road from Evreux to Caen (D513), whose new route has cut off the neighborhood of the settlements of Tréfiméteaux from the rest of the town of Dives. Before this, the road ran along the garden and the cars that passed, stopped most of the time.

Nowadays their garden is fairly difficult to find if you do not know it..

According to mrs da Costa, the visitors appreciate it. Arrows indicate a route of visiting, a small pot awaits gifts and in the small shack on the left of the entrance gate, souvenirs, made by mr da Costa, are sold.

3. the neighbors

Asking people how to get to mr da Costa, we realized that few people of Dives know about him. even when they live in the same neighborhood.

After the visit, we went to the café on the other side of the street to talk to the proprietor and one of his customers, who has known mr da Costa, when he worked at the plant.

We asked the owner of the cafe about the general sentiment of the people of Dives with respect to the work of mr da Costa.

*It is well proportioned, it's beautiful, but there is too much: it is bric-a-brac (what would she have said if mr. da Costa had not been interrupted by his illness and would have been able to continue his work?)

*It's beautiful work, it is not a layabout

*It's funny

*Visitors are numerous

*They do not pay taxes on the visits and the sales of the gift shop and that is unfair, because they are already compensated at 100% (though we can not say they do behave like rolling in money).. Moreover, they do not support the shopkeepers of the neighborhood, because they rather go to the supermarket further on. She [the nearby shopkeeper] sells them from time to time a can of beans, a slice of butter and that's it - because she also runs the grocery shop nearby. This leads to jealousy: "they have no license to sell, while I ..." ( "I'm speaking freely, I say what I think, not everybody would say this!")

*They are not very sociable people

*He (mr da Costa) makes always the impression as if he is on his last legs (in fact, at our second visit, his wife told us that we could not talk to him because he was suffocating: we supposed he would lay in bed, when we saw him, leaving the house, a cigarette in his mouth, which is excellent for the lungs, as everyone knows).

*The customer has confirmed the bad character of the "Portuguese".

(added to OEE-texts march 2010)

notes

1 note de 2006 : Ste Rita de Cascia

2 note de 2006 : the mills, the Eiffel Tower, the flower-boxes, the basins

3 note de 2006 : Ste Rita