Poster "July 31, 1944, the Farewell" Antoine de Saint-Exupéry original drawing by Benjamin Freudenthal

Poster "July 31, 1944, the Farewell" Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Poster representing Antoine de Saint-Exupéry at the controls of his P38 F5 during his last flight, on July 31, 1944.

Reproduction of an original drawing by Benjamin Freudenthal

300g satin paper

Format 80 x 60 cm

Limited edition 400 numbered and signed copies

On July 31, 1944, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry took off on his last mission. On his P38 F5 reconnaissance plane, he left for the coast of France, and disappeared without a trace. Until 1998 when a fisherman found a limestone concretion where a jewel was imprisoned: a bracelet with the name of the aviator: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. From then on, initially fruitless searches finally led to the discovery of the plane's debris: little of it, including the landing gear, and no clues as to the cause of Saint-Exupéry's death. A German pilot, Horst Rippert, testified after a long silence that he had shot down the famous pilot-writer 63 years earlier. Was this a sincere testimony or a fabrication? There is no proof that brings any certainty. Nevertheless, I set out on this track to tell the story of Saint-Exupéry's disappearance through a painting whose action takes place above a well-known place: "the Calanques". Saint-Exupéry, dreaming, flies over this beautiful landscape and does not see the small German fighter plane coming up behind him... in a minute, Saint-Exupéry will definitely leave the "Land of Men".