Virginia Hall Tactile: "Les Marguerites Fleuriront ce Soir"

Introduction: Above this control panel is a 3D version of Les Marguerites Fleuriront ce Soir, (Mar-ga-ri-T   F-lure-e-ont say S-wă-r) a painting by Jeffery Bass. This painting depicts Virginia Hall, operating a radio in France for the Office of Strategic Services (or OSS) during WW2. Use your fingers to explore this tactile painting. You will find seven touch-activated metal sensors throughout the image. Touch the sensors to learn more about details in the painting. Use the three buttons to the right to access details on Hall’s life at different times. They are “Pre-War,” “War-Time,” and “Post War.” To the far right on the panel, you will find a QR code that can be used to access the written script for the sensors & buttons.  

Pre-War: Born in Baltimore in 1906. Virginia Hall grew up in a comfortable home and spent her summers outdoors at her family farm in rural Maryland. She visited Europe as a child and developed a love of travel that inspired her to study languages abroad in college. After graduation, she became a clerk for the US Foreign Service. It was during this time that she had a hunting accident which resulted in the need for a prosthetic lower leg. Her disability did not deter her, however. She was in Europe in the summer of 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland. She was determined to stay and help. 

War Time: Brave, confident and fluent in French, Italian and German, Hall joined the French Army as an ambulance driver. In 1941, she made her way to London where she joined the British Special Operations Executive or SOE, aiding and coordinating Resistance efforts in occupied France. The Gestapo issued a wanted poster for “one of the most dangerous Allied agents in France,” identifying Hall as “The Lady who Limps.” As the Nazis closed in, she escaped by hiking over the snowy Pyrenees (Peer-uh-knees) mountains to Spain. With her identity exposed, she returned to London where she studied to become a wireless radio operator, and then joined the American Office of Strategic Services or OSS. In 1944, she returned to France where she trained resistance forces, conducted vital communications services and blew up bridges as the Allies closed in on Nazi forces following D-Day. After the liberation of Paris in August of 1944, she and her future husband Paul Goillot (Gee-O) returned to the United States.  

Post-War: Virginia Hall returned to the US as a war hero. Privately she was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross from the OSS by General William Donovan himself. She also received the Croix de Guerre (Qu-wah de G-air) from France in 1946. Hall continued to work in intelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency until her retirement in 1966. She and Paul moved to Barnesville, MD where they lived until her death in 1982. In her obituary, the Washington Post described her as “a hero of the French Resistance.” A hero indeed.  

Cat: Sunbathing on the windowsill lies an orange & gray barn cat. Hall had a love of animals throughout her life.  

Barn: Hall & her partner are sitting in a rustic barn with gray stone walls and a single window. A brown wooden floor is covered in straw from the bale of hay in the corner. Hall operated in France near Le Chambon sur Lignon (Le sham-bon sir lean-on), using barns like this to transmit her messages back to London.  

Power (& Partner): To Hall’s right sits a younger white man, wearing a blue button-down shirt, with black pants. Using his hands, he pedals a modified bicycle frame connected to a car battery. This generated power for the radio while Hall transmits messages. 

Disguise: A white woman in her late 30’s, hall is depicted here disguised as an elderly French peasant. She’s wearing a simple cream fabric dress with brown buttons down the front. She is sitting on a milking stool with a crate and radio positioned in front of her. Her brown hair is pulled away from her face and headphones are over her ears. 

Radio: Sitting on a crate, the radio is open to expose various buttons, knobs and both black and red wires. One gray wire is attached to a Morse keypad as Hall taps out messages from occupied France to London. These messages would include intel, like the location of Nazi troops or information about drop zones. These communications were vital to the war effort.  

Suitcase: Due to the vital news they transmitted, radios and their operators were hunted down by the Nazi’s. In constant danger of discovery, Hall disguised her radio as a suitcase. In this disguise the radio could travel from the location to location, without arising suspicion.  

Keyboard: Connected by a gray wire to the radio, a Morse keyboard with a black knob sits on a wooden crate in front of Hall. She uses her right hand to tap out messages. Using codes such as “Les marguerites fleuriront ce soir” (Mar-ga-ri-T  F-lure-e-ont say S-wă-r) (the daisies will bloom tonight), Hall arranged airdrops of critical supplies from London, including weapons, clothing, and medical supplies.  

Leg: In the center foreground of the painting, Hall’s left leg is outstretched. Her wooden, prosthetic leg is revealed between the hem of her dress and the ankle of her black, lace up boot. Nicknamed Cuthbert, the leg is referenced in a few of her secret messages.  

Jeff: The painting is signed in the bottom right corner by artist Jeffery Bass. Today, it hangs in the CIA’s Fine Arts Collection at Langley.