Pierre Boncompain

Pierre Boncompain was born in 1938 in Provence. In 1963, he completed his studies at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs before moving to the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where he worked in the Atelier Legueult. His works, created mainly in Paris, reflect the surroundings and way of life of the south of France. The special charm of Provence permeates his entire body of work: in paintings, in pastels and in many other forms of expression. He often chooses subjects such as nudes, still lifes and landscapes. At the same time, through his constant search for intense colours, expressive lines and the qualities of flat, two-dimensional painting, he elevates the everyday to something exceptional. In his work, he combines modern influences with a clear, light-filled and cheerful visual language—similar to Matisse’s approach to colour and light. The composition remains simple yet well ordered. The vibrant, earthy tones of his paintings—terracotta, ochre, vivid violet, deep red and blue—call to mind the vivid colour world of Gauguin’s Tahitian paintings. Pierre Boncompain has been shown worldwide in exhibitions at various museums, including the Musée de Lille, the Musée de Valence, the Kajikawa Foundation in Kyoto, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Takashimaya Museum in Osaka, the Singer Foundation in Holland and the Ambrosiano Library in Milan. He also took part in a more recent solo exhibition in 2002 at the Shanghai Art Museum in China. Today, his works are held in public and private international collections.