Eugène Begarat The Bather

This work shows the mastery of light, the generosity and depth of colours specific to the work of Eugène Begarat. Unsigned gouache. Work protected by glass, under Montparnasse frame. Dimensions at sight of the gouache 29x24 cm Total dimensions, with frame, 53.5x48 cm Eugène BÉGARAT is a painter born in Nice in 1943. At seventeen, he entered the École des Arts décoratifs in his hometown and then joined the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1964. Passionate about colour and light, BÉGARAT is part of the great classical trend of contemporary art. He draws inspiration from the technical advances of the Post-Impressionists to construct a personal touch that renews and modernises pointillism and chromatic divisionism. At the beginning of his career, he settled in Brittany to soak up the lights that inspired Félix VALLOTTON and the "NABIS". He then went in search of stronger colour contrasts and travelled to southern Europe and Mediterranean Africa (Spain, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia). His style was both consolidated and refined, through contact with the vibrant lights of the South. He returned to settle in France, first in Paris and then in Provence, near Vence where he built an open-air studio/garden in which he installed his models adorned with brilliant fabrics. He thus developed a work where the horizon gradually disappeared in favour of frames of foliage and natural elements sculpted by light. He thus declined infinite variations on the woman and her clothing, where the radiance of a complexion, the shine of hair are highlighted by the bright satins and shimmering silks that he liked to use. Over time, his touch abandoned the sole use of "Divisionism" to increasingly integrate colored areas without light ceasing to be the pivot of his art. Eugène BÉGARAT has never been concerned with the quarrels and fashions that mark contemporary art. Indifferent to the critical condemnations that have so disturbed the figurative artists of the 20th century, he builds a solid and coherent work around light, color, in order to sculpt, painting after painting, his vision of a sublimated femininity, both eternal and subtly contemporary. An internationally renowned artist, Eugène BÉGARAT exhibits in France but also in many foreign countries. His works are present in many major collections around the world. Important bibliography and multiple references (Bénézit, Mayer, Schurr, Akoun, Bordas, Wikipedia, Wikimonde, etc.).