"From here and adventures"the thousand and one faces of the adventurer-traveler Henry de Monfreid in an exhibition in Carcassonne
How many lives did Henry de Monfreid live? Difficult to answer as this man’s life experienced so many twists and turns. This authentic traveler, an essential figure among 20th century adventurers, was in turn a pearl fisherman, smuggler, arms dealer, watercolorist and writer. Joseph Kessel, met in Africa, said of him that he was a “old pirate”.
If the departmental archives of Aude in Carcassonne devote an exhibition to him entitled From here and adventuresis that they benefit from an important documentary collection left by his family.
Henry de Monfreid may have spent a large part of his life in the Horn of Africa, but he always remained linked to his native land. The adventurer-writer was born in Aude à la Franqui, one of the oldest seaside resorts on the Languedoc coast, in the town of Leucate.
“There is a memory that is engraved in his memory, it is the Cap des Trois Frères, à la Franqui, testifies his grandson Guillaume de Monfreid. A very particular silhouette that he represented in many of his watercolors at the end of his life. And even at the very beginning when he was 14 years old. So we see clearly that Henri’s identity is first and foremost La Franqui.”
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