Lost Domain

The Lost Domain or Le Grand Meaulnes

Inspired by a work of French literature

Lost Domain, Le Grand Meaulnes, oil on canvas, 36 inches by 72 inches inspired by  Alain-Fournier and his novel Le Grand Meaulnes

Le Grand Meaulnes is the only novel by French author Alain-Fournier. Fifteen-year-old François Seurel narrates the story of his relationship with seventeen-year-old Augustin Meaulnes as Meaulnes searches for his lost love. Impulsive, reckless and heroic, Meaulnes embodies the romantic ideal, and the mysterious world between childhood and adulthood.

François, the narrator of the book, is the son of the director of the school in a small village in the Sologne, After arriving in class, Augustin Meaulnes soon disappears. He returns from an escapade where he attended an incredible and magical costume party in a strange chateau.  There he met the girl of his dreams, Yvonne de Galais.

My painting illustrates Augustin Meaulnes and his struggle to understand that his experience, the Domain and Yvonne de Galais are one.

The male figure in the foreground seen from behind symbolizes his journey into another world.  Adolescence into adulthood.

As a classic tale of lost love and the search for the unobtainable, it tells us that we should be empowered by life’s experiences and not spend our lives trying to relive them.

The Lost Domanie