1. Ferdinand Cheval was born in Charmes-sur-l'Herbasse to a poor farming family.
11 Facts About Ferdinand Cheval
1. 2.
Ferdinand Cheval left school at age 13 to become a baker's apprentice, but eventually became a mail carrier.
3.
Ferdinand Cheval's dowry included the land on which the Palais Ideal stands today.
4.
Ferdinand Cheval began building the Palais Ideal in 1879 when he was 43.
5.
Ferdinand Cheval often worked at night, by the light of an oil lamp.
6.
Ferdinand Cheval spent the first 20 years building the outer walls.
7.
Ferdinand Cheval did not travel and had even given himself the title of peasant, so even though some qualities of his work resemble those pieces of art, he had never seen them.
8.
Ferdinand Cheval bound the stones together with lime, mortar and cement.
9.
Ferdinand Cheval died on 19 August 1924, about a year after he had finished building it, and is buried there.
10.
Just before his death, Ferdinand Cheval received recognition from figures including Andre Breton, Robert Doisneau, and Pablo Picasso.
11.
Ferdinand Cheval's work is commemorated in an essay by Anais Nin.