Gérard Barthélémy

Born in 1927 in the Ile-de-France, the region that was the cradle of Impressionism, Gérard Barthélémy spent his childhood and a large part of his youth in the midst of a rich and varied nature, imbued with the charm of the banks of the Seine and the forest of Fontainebleau. This charm left a deep impression on the painter, who from his early teens felt a great attraction to landscapes.

At the same time, he met Bonnard - the great master was at the height of his creative powers - and the days spent in the studio at Le Cannet were to form the basis of his new joie de vivre. During long years of research and hard work, Gérard Barthélémy found his own way of expression in the light of his admiration for Cézanne and Marquet. He works in watercolour and gouache, then settles on oil painting, remaining faithful to the landscapes of his childhood which he translates with infinite tenderness and sensitivity. His palette is delicate and discreet, with a great mastery of greys. His favourite elements: water and sky. Water is deep and pure, a mirror of life and a captor of the images that surround it, a source of creative reflections. Through his grey or cheerful skies, through their serene poetry, the whole earth breathes. His landscapes of the countryside, whether in the Ile-de-France, Brittany or Picardy, tell of the indestructible communion of man and the nourishing earth.

The indefinable mixture of sea, sand and sky of the bay of the Somme where the vigorous boats of the port of Etaples find in him a subtle interpreter. It is these qualities that have made Gérard Barthélémy a well-known and much-loved painter, present in numerous private collections in France and abroad.