Gérard Priault

Extremely rich in detail, Gérard Priault’s oil paintings offer an invitation to travel. The tropical forests painted by the artist do not represent real landscapes but imaginary places in which the observer can immerse themselves to feel, listen to and observe unspoilt nature.

Gérard Priault: painter and explorer of tropical rainforests

As a child, Gérard Priault wanted to become a painter or explorer. He began drawing at a very early age: his grandmother was a couturier, and he often found himself in her studio with pencils in hand, surrounded by patterns and fashion designs. After studying at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Beaux-Arts in Paris, he began his career as an artist, exhibiting in galleries and art fairs in Europe and the United States from the 1980s onwards.

Gérard Priault chose to devote himself to painting, but maintained his taste for adventure by travelling extensively to South-East Asia, India, Africa, South America and more. It was the jungles and tropical rainforests in particular that attracted him and inspired his art. During his travels, the artist immerses himself in an almost contemplative way in unspoilt nature, allowing himself to be completely saturated in its elements: silence interrupted by the sounds of animals, marvellous skies lit up by the stars and the moon, mysterious mists, intense rain, luxuriant vegetation…

The painting as a window to the imagination

“Each painting is the image of a dream, perhaps the representation of a ‘delirium’, an ornamental distraction and a certain idealised nature.” Gérard Priault

The artist draws his inspiration from nature but the rainforests he paints are not real and do not refer to any specific landscape. Gérard Priault does not paint on the spot or merely reproduce the landscapes he photographs on his travels. Instead, he relies on memories of his time in the jungle, soaking up its atmosphere, to create all the elements such as the trees, leaves and vines.

Real-life references are mixed with the artist’s personal impressions and sensations to bring to life visions that belong more to the realm of the imaginary than to that of naturalistic representation. The artist’s landscapes are also outside any reference to time: it is impossible to contextualise them with any certainty in a past, present or future world, and it is equally difficult to link them to a specific season or time of day.

The creative process: an inner adventure

Gérard Priault paints his figurative paintings in oil for its luminosity and durability. His technique is extremely precise: it consists of applying a myriad of successive small strokes that create subtle details. His work is a lengthy process, in which time is dilated: while painting, the artist falls into a state of concentration in which time no longer matters.

The idea at the beginning of each new painting is more or less precise. He often starts with a tree, then another, and so on until, little by little, all the vegetation appears, a cloudy sky, rain, a waterfall… As the work progresses, it is the painting itself that guides the artist, suggesting the various elements of the composition. For Gérard Priault, creating a work of art “is like embarking on a journey without having set a precise, detailed itinerary: you change direction, sometimes you change your purpose and inspiration”. In the end, the contemporary painter has created his symphony, using colours like a composer uses musical notes.