In 1944, François Le Lionnais is arrested and taken to the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in Germany. Even there, however, he continues the resistance he had begun in Paris, sabotaging the construction of the guidance systems for the V2 rockets, a job assigned to him due to his background as a mathematician and chemical engineer.

But this is not the only way he resists and survives amidst the horrors of the camp. He turns to one of the many things he passionately loves, painting, and involves a young fellow inmate, Jean Gagnaire, in this escape of his. He describes to him each time one of the famous paintings by a great artist, mentally portraying the work, analyzing details, colors, shapes, and techniques with remarkable precision.

Later, when he has to part from his friend, he continues the "game" alone, creating his own imaginary paintings... This brief painting manual – and consequently a manual for survival – is the fruit of his time spent in the concentration camp and one of the few autobiographical texts left behind by the founder of the Oulipo movement, François Le Lionnais.

At the same time, it offers the reader a unique opportunity to take a tour of a museum filled with masterpieces and to reflect on the close relationships that connect art to life.

“A shocking, tender, and ingenious text.” Le Monde

“A literary gem, the work of an extraordinary man in the face of tragic circumstances, released for the first time in our era and captivates us.” Livres Hebdo

“A manifesto of culture against barbarism.” Libération

“Only a mathematician could combine place, time, poetry, and metaphysics in such a way. Le Lionnais's testimony is one of those incredible yet real texts, which is the living spark, the leap of Man into the heart of horror.” Christine Bini, La Règle du jeu

“The text is extremely brief and exceptionally concise. It is a testimony, a first-person narrative of survival, but mainly of a triumph. The triumph of art, beauty, and intellect against horror.” Héloïse Massa, Un dernier livre avant la fin du monde