Olivier Debré, painter of emotion
From June 21 to July 16 2023, rediscover Signs, the cult ballet of the Paris Opera created in 1997 by Olivier Debré. It was the portrait of La Mona Lisa that gave rise to the painter's desire to translate on stage the emotion in front of this smile, a “sign” par excellence. Through seven paintings — including Morning Loire — Debré evokes different places in the world that appear as so many sensitivities. These resplendent landscapes combine with the choreography of Carolyn Carlson and the score of René Aubry, embodying the continuities between painting, music and dance. The revival of this dreamlike work and the new exhibition at Galerie AB - including Red orange flow of the Loire - are an opportunity to look back at how Olivier Debré's painting is driven by the movements of the soul.
Originally from Paris, Olivier Debré was a teenager when his parents settled in Touraine. There he discovered the landscapes of the Loire, which would remain his favorite theme throughout his life. Aboard his traveling workshop, a yellow Ford station wagon, he carries his paint cans and his large brush brooms. The artist paints flat, right on the banks of the river, as if to further imbue the canvas with his feelings. If he has abstract expressionists for friends Pierre Soulages, Nicolas de Staël or Hans Hartung, he prefers to describe his painting as”Fervent abstraction“.
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Olivier Debré, with Red orange flow of the Loire - offered for purchase by Galerie AB - suggests the variation of light and the fluidity of the river. From these colors and these movements is born a landscape felt, illustration of the elusive space that surrounds us. The works of the artist, who denies being a landscape designer, are an open window into his feelings:
“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.“
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