Novel Explores Haiti's Saint-Soleil Art Movement and Its Voodoo-Inspired Legacy

A new novel by Luce Perez-Tejedor, titled 'Saint-Soleil,' delves into the history of the Saint-Soleil artistic community in Haiti. Published by Éditions du Seuil, the book revisits the movement that emerged in 1975, when French writer and former minister André Malraux traveled to a remote hillside overlooking Port-au-Prince to meet peasant and artisan painters. These artists, inspired by voodoo culture, developed a distinctive style described by Malraux as the most striking art of the twentieth century. The Saint-Soleil group positioned itself as independent from mainstream art markets, which often commodified naive Haitian painting, and advocated for a decolonial approach free from external domination. The novel highlights this artistic utopia, which arose during the Duvalier dictatorship and amid lingering effects of American occupation, offering a lesser-known chapter in modern art history. Luce Perez-Tejedor, born in 1985 and originally from Toulouse, has lived in Haiti and Senegal and now works as a librarian in Brittany; this is her debut novel. The author recently discussed the book on RFI with Nathalie Amar, bringing attention to the movement's enduring significance.