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Art is at the rendezvous no. 27 - Focus Olivier Debré
The French artist is being honored at Galerie AB and at the Opéra Bastille with the revival of his cult ballet Signes, created in 1997.
Originally from Paris, Olivier Debré was a teenager when his parents settled in Touraine. There he discovered the landscapes of the Loire, which remained his favorite theme throughout his life.
Debré's works suggest the variation of light and the fluidity of the subject. Color and movement give birth to a felt landscape, in such a way that the painter's emotion appears crystallized on the canvas.
An illustration of the elusive space that surrounds us, his works are a window into the depth of infinite landscapes.
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Oil on canvas
1986
Signed, titled and dated on the back
100 x 100 cm
“Working most often outside regardless of the conditions, he is part of a tradition of landscape painting, undoubtedly marked by the naturalist paintings of Edouard Debat-Ponsan, his grandfather, as well as by the heritage of Claude Monet. By his own admission, abstraction is not really the issue of his thinking. Debré likes to define himself as an artist of sensation, permeable to the emotions caused by his immersion in the landscape, which he transcribes through color and movement.” (Françoise Claire Prodhon, extract from the catalog. Olivier Debré exhibition, Voyages, Galerie AB, 2018)
AB Gallery, 2018)
“I translate the emotion that is in me in front of the landscape but not the landscape... It is not my will that intervenes but the emotion that dominates.” Olivier Debré
Portrait of Olivier Debré by André Morain
Ballet Signes, Opera Bastille
Signes originated in the portrait of Mona Lisa, which inspired Olivier Debré with the desire to translate on stage the emotion caused by a smile, a true “sign” par excellence. The sets and costumes created by the artist are part of a dreamlike setting evoking the different places in the world that appear as so many sensitivities. This creation illustrates how the artist's painting is driven by the movements of the soul.
Diary
Performing from June 21 to July 16, 2023 at the Opéra Bastille, the ballet Signes will be broadcast live on July 14 on Paris Opera Play, the Paris Opera's streaming platform.
Olivier Debré's landscapes and costumes combine with the choreography of Carolyn Carlson and the score of René Aubry, embodying the continuities between painting, music and dance.