In the late 1940's and the 1950's this was the art studio of the painter, Dom DeWit, who came to Louisiana from Belgium. He lived at St. Joseph's Abbey and painted magnificent works on the walls and ceilings of the monks' refectory as well as beautiful images in the Abbey Church. He also did paintings in several churches in Louisiana.
He had a secret mixture to his oils and because of this his paintings at the Abbey are still as nice as the day he did them in spite of the fact that the refectory is cooled by the open windows with the Louisiana humidity pouring in.