EDOUARD DUVAL-CARRIÉ

b. 1954, Haiti

Mardi Gras au Fort Dimanche, 1992 – 1993

Oil on canvas
59.0625 x 59.0625 in.

Collection of The Bass
Gift of Mr. Sanford A. Rubenstein
1999.017

Mardi Gras au Fort Dimanche is a depiction of the infamous prison Fort Dimanche, addressing the imprisonment, torture and assassination of hundreds of Haitians carried through by dictator François Duvalier. In the center of this painting is François Duvalier’s son and successor, Jean-Claude Duvalier, dressed in a wedding gown, a bold statement aimed at his questionable character and sexual preferences, as he is surrounded by his family in a torture chamber of Fort Dimanche. Amongst the Duvalier family stands an army general, his in-law Archbishop Lingonde, and the Vodou Lord of Death Bawon Samdi with his hands wrapped around Duvalier’s neck, alluding to the rumors of his mother’s reputed Vodou initiation.