Biography
“There is no greater master than nature”St. Bernard.”
Born in 1967, Benoît Pelatan has been painting since 1991. Self-taught, he honed his craft by immersing himself in the works of the greatest masters, spending time with them in museums (the Louvre is his place of contemplation and study), with a preference for 19th-century artists: first and foremost Corot, of whom Monet said: “*There is only one master: Corot.*”
“We are nothing in comparison, nothing*“—and all the landscape painters of Barbizon, Harpignies, Daubigny, and Dupré, to name just a few. In their works, Benoît Pelatan is captivated by the depiction of an unspoiled, authentic, almost primitive natural world, where trees, rivers, and fields take center stage.
Even as a child, he was drawn to walks in the Mayenne countryside, which he still loves to depict. Through his brushes and paints, he seeks to capture the emotions he has gathered during his wanderings.
For him, the beauty of nature lies in its simplicity; there is no artifice in his compositions, no flashiness or grandiloquence—just the countryside, in all its modest majesty.
To achieve this, he adapted his technique to this style of representation: often small, unusual formats—tall or very horizontal—and panels (another tradition from the 19th century, except that the medium has replaced wood, the only concession to our era)—which allow him to truly find the right surface without being constrained by standard dimensions, and finally, colors that are sometimes muted, sometimes brighter, delicate and diluted, without impasto, often spread out “at the premiere”without much regret.”
Authentic, sincere compositions, just as they present themselves to the passerby who knows how to listen, see, and appreciate them.
