Skull sculpture

On September 3, 1939, France declared war on Nazi Germany, eager to take revenge for the humiliation of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. In Saint-Martin-de-Ré, watercolor artist Joël Thézard, originally from the Loiret region of France, decided to redecorate his Saint-Martin façade with a sculpture in direct opposition to the one on the corner opposite his own: the Virgin and Child. So, at the corner of rue du Général Lapasset and cours Bailly des Écotais stands a sculpture of a skull, realistic right down to its proportions. What could be better than to oppose life with the symbol of death?
According to some sources, it took the artist just three days to complete this cranial representation. From September 6 to 9, 1939, the street corner became a powerful symbol of disagreement with what was happening. It raises questions about a time when death triumphed over life and purity. Finally, to underline the date of what symbolizes for the sculptor the end of the birth rate, Joël Thézard engraves 1939, just below.
Clearly, the German soldiers never saw it or understood its message, because it's still there, and few passers-by pay any attention to it these days...