Artist’s Statement

I was born in Normandy and often strode through the streets of Honfleur (the birthplace of Impressionism), where I’m lucky enough to still have a residence. My passion for nature, bright colors and the effects created by light are not due to chance: they are the fruits of my artistic education.

The Impressionist movement in painting no longer needs to be explained. But in photography, it seemed essential to me to redefine the contours of this movement that I hope to initiate, and which will perhaps inspire other artists.

Impressionism worships the effects of light on the colors of nature. In nature, no color exists by itself. The tinting of objects is pure illusion. The only source for the creation of different colors is the sunlight, which envelops all things and reveals them, according to the hours of the day, and to its infinite nuances.

Refusing to use filters or any other artifice for the retouching of my images, I decided to use nature itself to give my work an impressionistic aspect which, under the right conditions, can almost appear to have the texture of paint.

The use of reflections (a constant source of inspiration for Monet), the distortion of a scene through the heat of a fire, or even through drops of falling rain, are necessary effects for the creation of these artistic works. They also use the bright complimentary colors and pastoral scenes that filled the oeuvres of painters such as an Gogh and Pissarro.

Beyond light and color, Impressionist painters were also strongly influenced by the compositions in traditional Japanese art forms. Artists like Degas redefined the balanced composition, which was formerly so dear to the West. Some critics saw these new layouts on the canvas as failed pictorial attempts; but art historians quickly understood the intention, their sources of inspiration as well as the beauty of off-center paintings, intense flat colors, and even the use of empty space.

This is what inspires me about Impressionism, and the spirit with which I took great pleasure in photographing this ongoing series.

A SHORT HISTORY OF