Who is exhibiting in Avignon in 2023 ?
The Collection Lambert welcomes Sean Scully to the Hôtel de Caumont
Among the contemporary artists on show at the Collection Lambert, Sean Scully takes a special place this summer, from 1 July to 15 October.
The American artist has donated a canvas entitled Arles Nacht Vincent. This tryptic will be exhibited in the Collection Lambert alongside a selection of works by the same artist.
The Irish-born artist works as a painter, engraver, sculptor and photographer. His work can be seen in collections in museums around the world. He has twice been nominated for the Turner Prize. He has four studios, including one near New York.
The depth of Sean Scully’s abstract art
Scully has developed his abstract art towards a certain spirituality and artistic emotionality. His sensitive approach to colour is touching.
As a lover of French painting, he has a particular affection for Claude Monet’s ‘Water Lily Pond’, a copy of which he keeps in his studio. In his Chelsea studio, he has also kept postcards of Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Berthe Morisot, whose use of whites and greys he admires, and, in a more direct connection with his painting, of Edouard Vuillard.
A technique, a breath of fresh air
Sean Scully works on several paintings at once, superimposing up to four layers of oil that require long exposure times and create effects of depth. “Something comes from beneath the surface,” he says, “and the tones form from the previous ones… I paint quickly, intuitively, with great vitality and deliberately leave a fairly rough, almost coarse finish.”
Carnal, sensual, inspired by Turner and distancing himself from the American minimalist school, Scully sees himself as a druid fed by Morocco, Cézanne and Matisse, and as an assertive Europhile painter. He recently bought a space in Aix-en-Provence and dreams of dividing his time between France and Germany.
To be discovered at la Collection Lambert, contemporary art Museum, 5 Rue Violette – 84000 AVIGNON
July/August = open every day from 11 am to 7 pm (last admittances 45 mn before museum closing)
Sept/June = open from Wednesday to Friday from 1 to 6 pm / 11 am to 6 pm on week-ends / closed on Monday and Tuesday
