Before Barclay's gang in Saint-Tropez, there was that of the anarchist painter Paul Signac

By signing this summer Les déjeuners de la Hune , aptly subtitled "Chronique tropézienne" (Le Geste d'or editions, 222 p. - see our pages of August 14) , Dominique Schneidre sits down to eat by treating - through the thinker of pointillism Paul Signac - his readership to a delicious era.

The one that saw the village adorned with a palette of painters who contributed to giving its letters of nobility to the Musée de l'Annonciade and made that each season the easels spring up on the quays of the old port in memory of a pictorial tradition well anchored in the landscape.

Meeting one market day with the woman who once wrote Have We Sailed Enough? On the menu, her new novel, but also her vision of a contemporary Saint-Tropez that she doesn't always appreciate...

Coming from a large Parisian family, what brought you to Saint-Tropez?

At three years old, in that of my parents (the great industrialist Charles Schneider and the actress Lilian Constantini, Editor's note) , who were looking for a quiet place. My father was keen on boats and my mother wanted a second home. "Why are you going to stick yourselves in a hole like that? No one will come to see you!" , their Parisian friends teased them. It was just after the war... They finally bought it in the Bay of Canebiers, where I live when I'm not in Paris.

You focus your book on Paul Signac. How can you be so realistic about his experience in Saint-Tropez?

I wanted everything to be true, except obviously for the few imaginary characters I introduced to give substance to the novel. So I went rummaging through the city's archives. His great-granddaughter Charlotte Cachin also opened hers to me, including Signac's correspondence with Matisse, Manguin, Cross... I built my dialogues between them thanks to these documents! Charlotte and I have a hereditary friendship since my great-grandfather and hers were already seeing each other. I myself was one of the best friends of her mother Françoise Cachin (co-founder and director of the Musée d'Orsay, Editor's note).

Before the gang of Sagan, Vadim, Barclay or Johnny, there was the gang of Signac, you say?

Yes, a great band of anarchist activists! They didn't plant bombs - except perhaps for one of them, Félix Fénéon (he was eventually acquitted, Ed.) - but their commitment was very real. I was able to gauge Signac's personality by reading his "diary". Someone very natural, honest and certainly not easy to live with (smile).

Did the separation from his wife and Signac's departure signal the end of an era?

The others kept coming, but they were independent. So there was no longer that magic.

Signac lived in La Ramade and La Hune. What happened to these residences?

La Hune has not moved and still remains in his family, while La Ramade, which was a small house overlooking Les Graniers, which he sold in 1910, has nothing to do with it. It became Thierry Le Luron's (then was bought after his death by tax lawyer Bernard Lagarde, close to Bernard Tapie, who himself died in 2023, Editor's note).

Was the premise of the novel really Signac or to depict a certain Saint-Tropez?

There had to be a balance between the two...

Reflections on the current Saint-Tropez tend towards the essay while we are in a novel...

I wanted to include myself too! Perspectives on "overtourism", businesses... All of this came very naturally and added interest to the book.

You know, next year it will be 80 years since I've been coming here! For example, I'm extremely struck by what touches nature...

It's terrible to see Saint-Tropez being swept away by concrete on one side and tree disease on the other...

Did your book need such a disillusioned conclusion?

For me, the village has become a branch of LVMH and Bernard Arnault. Luxury has eliminated all the artisans who made the village unique. Today, go find a potter or have a painting framed... There's only luxury clothing left, and the heads of establishments only see the cash register. Nothing to do with the characters of yesteryear!

Since you are scratching the surface of the current Saint-Tropez, what would be your program to get back on track?

That's said kindly, and I wouldn't dare get involved in that. Especially not in politics!

Despite the criticism, Saint-Tropez remains your haven, right?

Yes. I've traveled a lot, but it remains my anchor point. I'm terribly sensitive to light. Every morning around 5 a.m., I admire the sunrise. It's always different!

My book is dedicated to people who loved the Saint-Tropez of the past, but I'm not "just" nostalgic. I still love Saint-Tropez. In fact, I'll be buried here; it's my home!