Visite guidée de l'exposition Jean Verame - Grand Bleu

Freedom, emancipation, a thirst for intensity, an inner fire, a breath of fresh air, but also sincerity and a unique grace characterise Jean Verame, a figure apart – elusive and delicate – who swam against the tide of the artistic doctrines of his time. He achieved international renown without ever appearing to seek recognition or success; critics hailed him as the inventor of land art and the unforgettable, extraordinary painter of deserts. This Belgian émigré, madly in love with France, curious about everything, always on the move and in search of new frontiers, has but one guiding principle, ethic and driving force: Freedom – and above all, the freedom to be oneself. His flamboyant and inspired body of work, driven by the quest for a wholly personal artistic expression and a form of wisdom, is on display for four months at the Baron Martin Museum. Blue and stones are fundamental to him, playing a vital part in his relationship with space, time and matter. A lover of the absolute, an exceptional visionary, he has forever transformed our perception of deserts under the watchful eye of the sky and the stars – the deserts of the Sinai, Morocco, Tibesti (Chad) and Chile – which were once considered off-limits to art, whilst imbuing them with an unpredictable sense of humanity. Weaving together enchantment and mystery, he works with the colour blue – the sky, space, the celestial vault without beginning or end – which makes everything possible artistically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. This work, created in freedom, reconnects us with the earth. Jean Verame has explored a wide range of experiments, reimagined techniques and broadened his repertoire to include the transparency of glass illuminated from within, to the solidity of bronze, which he defies by making it seem to fly, and to the majestic stones of the Saint-Rémy quarries, in a jubilant surge that seeks to experience everything and is part of his way of being a painter – or of no longer being one, and of being something else entirely. A world of rare breadth and beauty, where creation, vertigo, vivid imagination and poetry go hand in hand. To be discovered and savoured without restraint!