Le Puy En Velay: Landscape of Reconciliation
Margie Thompson, SSJ, MFA
The watercolor painting Le Puy En Velay: Landscape of Reconciliation depicts a view of the city where the Sisters of St. Joseph were founded in 1650. Built on a hill in the volcanic region of the Haute-Loire in France, the city of Le Puy grew within the crater of an extinct volcano and was an important urban center by 1650 as well as a pilgrimage center since the Middle Ages.
The “puys” or chimneys of volcanoes jut vertically toward the heavens in dramatic contrast to the flat horizontal landscape on the crater floor. Like the symbol of the Christian cross the juxtaposition of horizontal and vertical movements signifies the reconciliation of opposites. Rich in history, this region lies within a vein of reconciliation whose people offered sanctuary and safety to Jews during the Nazi genocide. The neighboring territory, source of the Loire River and its deep caverns, hosts villages, rich farmland