Guillaume Bresson

From January 21 to May 25, 2025, the Palace of Versailles will present the first retrospective exhibition of contemporary artist Guillaume Bresson. Guillaume Bresson is a leading figure in French figurative painting.
In his realistic canvases, he depicts characters caught in the violence of suburban areas, drawing on references to religious and historical painting. The artist's works will be displayed in the Africa Rooms, engaging in a dialogue with the large battle scenes depicting the colonial conquests of Louis-Philippe.

Guillaume Bresson's work: A fusion of history and contemporary art

Guillaume Bresson's paintings are reknowned for their realism. To acheive this photographic precision, the artist follows a meticulous process that begins with preparatory work involving staged photography sessions with models in his studio. The models adopt theatrical poses and movements, reminiscent of Baroque painting, as they bring his scenes into life. Through a montage process, Bresson isolates and highlights bodies before reassembling them in group compositions. In this way, he constructs paintings where body language plays a central role in creating narrative depth.

the exhibition at the palace of Versailles: a dialogue of battle scenes

Guillaume Bresson's works will be exhibited in the Africa Rooms of the Palace of Versailles, a grand setting created under King Louis-Philippe. These rooms are adorned with immense canvases depicting the battles of the North African colonial conquests in the 1830s and 1840s. In this confrontation between historical works, notably those of Horace Vernet, and Bresson's own canvases, the juxtaposition of battlefields and urban guerillas invites visitors to reflect on the staging of violence in art.

Born in 1982 in Toulouse and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Guillaume Bresson is now regarded as a leading figure in French figurative painting. Currently based in New York, after living in Paris and Berlin, Bresson is known for his resolutely contemporary scenes. By reviving a mode of representation drawn from classical painting ‒ largely abandoned until the early 21st century ‒ he breathes new life into a modern history painting, reconstructing reality through the lens of our time. Both painter and director, Bresson grounds his work in the present, linking his creations to current social issues.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Galerie Nathalie Obadia.

PRactical information

From January 21st to May 25th
Africa Rooms, Palace of Versailles
Curator: Christophe Leribault, President of the Palace of Versailles
"The exhibition will be accessible with a "Palace" or a "passport" ticket.