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THE JOURNEY HOME 1998
(Thuisvaart)
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Johfra’s last years were the most productive, creating an average of one painting per month. But, in 1998, he became progressively weaker as cancer spread through his body. On the 31st of May, he completed The Journey Home, his last painting. That evening he confided in his Journal “I cannot paint anymore...” In his final months, he corrected the final drafts of an account of his life, Symphonie Fantastique, fondly remembering each of its phases. He and Ellen spent more quiet moments together in the garden of their home, with its waterfall and forest.
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JOHFRA'S FUNERAL
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They spoke of death, and the journey that awaited him. His last completed canvas bore the image of a Venetian gondola, and a figure being ferried peacefully to the ocean’s other side. Early in the morning of November 6th, 1998, Johfra died at the age of 78.
Friends descended from Holland and those in France also gathered round his grave in the cemetary of Fleurac.
And the gondola was pushed out to sea.
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