In 1947, on Whit Sunday, J.D., Olivier Le Corneur and Dewasne discovered Gordes, a village set up high in the southern border of the plateaux of Vaucluse, facing the Luberon.  J.D. came back there as soon as the month of July and converted the attic of a small house bought by Le Corneur into a scanty studio.  At the time, Gordes attracted but a few visitors.  Whole districts of the small town were deserted... J.D. was entirely fascinated by the country, its light, its colours and its dry-stone walls.  J.D.'s paintings of that time showed a clear renewal of his " inspiration ". Schneider, Odile and Léon Degand soon joined him.  They all shared his enthusiasm and the year after, all the fellow-painters of the Denise René Gallery arrived to spend the summer: Charles Estienne, Robert Jacobsen, Gilioli, Poliakoff, Vasarely... Some of them even bought houses or " bories ". There was still no running water (not before 1958) and the old washing-place of the Fontaine Basse was used as a pool to the " Abstract Group " which was blamed by some journalists for disturbing the tranquility of the place frequented until then by Andre Lhote's disciplined students who worked outside.

   J.D. stayed at Gordes as long as he could.  Eleven years after his arrival, he had built a big studio on the trapezoid foundations of a dilapidated building, which was close to Le Corneur's house.  Sometime later, he also restored an old house, just in front of it.  In 1959, he left Paris to settle there for good.  In the serene and imperceptible scenery, a secret place where a peculiar harmony between the mineral and the vegetable kingdoms prevailed, he went on painting, enjoying the peace and the quiet, like Sérusier before synthesizing all his researches.