Porte de sortie du parc deá plaisirée (The Exit Door of the Pleasure Park)

Lequeu’s detailed drawings and accomplished paintings give us an idea of a mind full of imaginative potential. He knew that the realisation of his grandiose plans and elevations would never be realised in the real world, which probably allowed him to imagine fantasy worlds way ahead of their time.

His architectural extravaganzas and many of his paintings straddle the boundary between fantasy and eroticism. His buildings include a cow barn in the shape of an Assyrian bovine, a priapic fountain in a Gothic tabernacle, and an erotic garden folly called Le hamac de l’amour (The Hammock of Love), replete with a copulating couple.

L’étable vache-tournée au midi (The The Turning Cow Stable at Noon)