Jesse Katz

Galleries: Pyrenees

"The terrain turned to forest, swirling with butterflies and bursting with thistle; then, as I climbed higher, it became stark and dry, an invitation to lizards and lichens. To think, sixty-odd years earlier, this trail represented survival, a future, the only way out."

Aristide Maillol was in his seventies when he met Dina Vierny.
   
Dina Vierny was 15 when she started posing for Aristide Maillol.
   
Madame Vierny was eighty-nine when I met her.
     
  
The Banyuls train depot, last stop in France.
   
Heading south, for the mountains.
   
The first steps are paved.
     
  
The hills are terraced with sweet Grenache grapes.
   
The trail turns to granite.
   
Halfway up, the granite gives way to forest.
     
  
Traffickers have crisscrossed the Pyrenees for generations.
  
Nearing the top, a 2,000-foot climb.
   
Spain.
     
  
The border.
   
The descent to Port Bou.
   
Signs of Spanish life.
     
  
The end is near.
   
I see light.