Hundertwasser acquired the La Picaudière farm, located on the border of Normandy and Persche, in 1957, following a tip from his painter friend, René Brô, from his first regular income as a visual artist. Until around the mid-1960s, the modest homestead - which was not equipped with electricity or running water (since 1962 next to the rented apartment in the Casa de Maria in Venice) was one of the main focuses of his life (he always had several of them). He lived and painted here with his Japanese wife Yuko Ikewada for a long time in the first half of the 1960s; In later years he visited the Picaudière less frequently. He last stayed here for several months in 1997. From the very beginning, he started planting trees and creating fountains and eco-ponds around the farm. Since the 1960s - as soon as his means allowed him - Hundertwasser started what he called "nature liberation", that is, he regularly paid "ransom" for trees standing nearby on neighboring properties were not liked by their owners. (In accordance with the artist's wishes, the payments will continue even after his death.) Around 1975 he purchased a second farmhouse, also an old building. Both are completely overgrown today. From the road - the Route Nationale - they can only be reached on foot. The couple Francis and Simone Goudet, who live in the neighborhood, looked after the houses in the artist's absence.

Wieland Schmied, in: Hundertwasser's Paradises. The hidden life of Friedrich Stowasser, Munich 2003