"This painting is truly enigmatic," Serais explained in mid-July 2025. "The birth of 'The Templar's Tear' is mysterious - I had no intention of creating it. I wanted to paint a landscape as I usually do. It shook me completely. For a month and a half afterward, I was exhausted. Creating this work totally drained me."
The 130 x 97 cm painting emerged under what Serais describes as supernatural circumstances. On May 13, 2025, while working at his easel on what was supposed to be a simple landscape painting, the artist experienced something he had never encountered before in his artistic career.
"I was painting this small landscape while listening to a documentary about Van Gogh," Serais recounted. "The program switched to another documentary about a village in Aude that I knew absolutely nothing about. At that moment, I became completely captivated, hypnotized. From that point on, I made no decisions myself."
What followed was an experience that left the artist both mystified and physically affected. "Violent tinnitus seized me from the beginning to the end of creating this hermetic painting, as if someone was speaking in my ear and dictating their intentions to me," he explained. "The tinnitus stopped the day I signed the painting."
Serais is no amateur artist. Since beginning his painting journey in 2003 as a self-taught painter, he has received numerous accolades including a silver medal from Arts Sciences Letters, followed by a vermeil medal, an honor medal from the city of Paris, a medal from the city of Argentan, first place in the outdoor painters' competition in Putanges, second place in the painters' competition in Lassay-les-Châteaux, and victory in the oil painting category of the Bagnoles-de-l'Orne competition. He typically produces 5 to 6 paintings per month, drawing inspiration from the Norman landscapes.
The mysterious experience didn't end with the completion of the painting. Feeling drained and fatigued after finishing the work, Serais took a week-long vacation to Dinan in Côtes-d'Armor to recuperate. However, the strange phenomena followed him there.
"While on vacation in Brittany, the tinnitus returned at Léhon and stopped when I left the abbey," he reported. During a visit to Léhon, a commune south of Dinan, the symptoms returned with renewed intensity. "The abbey door was wide open, revealing its baptistery. I entered the medieval building and walked toward the recumbent statues located at the base of the side walls. Looking up, I noticed at a height of about three meters a Templar cross in relief emerging from the masonry above each of them. The tinnitus stopped when I came out."
According to Serais, his painting contains a complex puzzle waiting to be solved. "This painting speaks, but we don't hear it; we see it, but don't really look at it - not enough to decrypt the message found at the top and left of the canvas," he stated. "All the clues are in this painting. There's writing in three different languages, including one I didn't know before creating this work."
The artist believes location plays a crucial role in understanding the painting's message. "I think the place is important. Many people have searched and are still searching. Some have made good progress and are very close to the answer," Serais assured. He has even offered an incentive for solving the mystery: "I've promised dinner to the first person who decodes the message and details the path they took to reach the Holy Grail."
Serais is adamant that the painting is not for sale, despite its growing notoriety. "Some cynical minds will say I invented this story to sell it for more money. No, it's not for sale," he emphasized. "This painting, which has a message to convey, is not for sale. It's destined to remain in my personal collection."
The painting is currently on display at Le Relais restaurant-bar in Bourg-Saint-Léonard, Gouffern en Auge, where Serais is exhibiting forty-four other works. He clarifies one potential misconception about the symbolism: "In the message, the triangle has no Masonic connotation - it's formed by three geographical points at the center of which there is a shaded promontory."
For those interested in attempting to decode the mystery, the painting remains accessible to the public. Le Relais restaurant-bar in Bourg-Saint-Léonard, Gouffern en Auge, is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM, though it will be closed for vacation from August 2-17.
The challenge remains open: who will be the first to decipher the hidden message in "The Templar's Tear"? According to Serais, all the information needed to solve the puzzle is contained within the painting itself, waiting for someone with the right combination of knowledge, insight, and perhaps intuition to unlock its secrets.
