Guillaume Bresson

From 21 January to 25 May 2025, the Palace of Versailles is presenting the first retrospective of the contemporary artist Guillaume Bresson. Guillaume Bresson, a leading French figurative painter, creates realist paintings depicting characters captured in the violence of the urban hinterland, with references to religious and history painting. The artist’s works will be displayed in the Africa Rooms, where they will engage in dialogue with large battle scenes depicting Louis-Philippe’s colonial conquests.

Guillaume Bresson’s historic yet contemporary work

Guillaume Bresson’s paintings are characterized by their realism. In order to achieve this level of photographic precision, the painter follows a process that begins with preparatory studio photoshoots with models. They choreograph their bodies, creating poses and theatricalized movements that are reminiscent in some respects of baroque painting. In his editing process, the artist isolates and detaches the bodies and then rearranges them into a group. This allows Bresson to construct paintings in which body language plays a central role in the creation of the narrative.

The exhibition at the Palace of Versailles - a dialogue between battle scenes

The exhibition of works by Guillaume Bresson will be held in the Africa Rooms at the Palace of Versailles. These rooms, with their grand decorative schemes installed under Louis-Philippe, feature huge paintings depicting battles from the colonial conquest of North Africa in the 1830s and 1840s. In this encounter between historic paintings - notably by Horace Vernet - and works by Guillaume Bresson, battlefields and urban guerillas are juxtaposed and challenge the visitor to reflect on the idea of presenting violence in painting.

Guillaume Bresson was born in Toulouse in 1982 and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts art school in Paris. Today, he is considered to be the leading light of French figurative painting. After living in Paris and Berlin, he has now settled in New York, and is known for his unapologetically contemporary scenes. Re-engaging with a style of representation with its roots in classical painting that has been neglected until the early 21st century, Guillaume Bresson creates a new form of contemporary history painting by applying this type of reconstruction of reality to his own times. As both a painter and director, he embeds his work in the present by tapping into current social issues in his creations.

The exhibition is being presented in collaboration with Galerie Nathalie Obadia.

practical Information

Exhibition curator: Christophe Leribault, President of the Palace of Versailles
Exhibition design: Antoine Fontaine

Visuals

Affiche de l'exposition

Guillaume Bresson

Vue de l'exposition Guillaume Bresson Versailles

Sans titre, 2024

Guillaume Bresson
Huile sur bois
96,2 x 96,2 x 5,1 cm, encadré
Collection particulière
© ADAGP, Paris 2024, crédit photo : Simon Cherry
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels

Sans titre, 2008

Guillaume Bresson
Huile sur toile
170 x 300 cm
Paris, collection particulière
© ADAGP, Paris 2024, crédit photo: Bertrand Huet / Tutti image
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels

Sans titre, 2008

Guillaume Bresson
Huile sur toile
170 x 300 cm
Bâle, collection particulière
© ADAGP, Paris 2024, crédit photo: Martin Müller
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels

Sans titre, 2020-2022

Guillaume Bresson
Huile sur toile
148 x 410 x 3,5 cm
Paris, collection privée
© ADAGP, Paris 2024, crédit photo : Sebastiano Pellion di Persano
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels

Sans titre, 2006

Guillaume Bresson
Huile sur toile
169 x 205 cm
Collection Mudam, Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
© ADAGP, Paris 2024
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels

Sans titre, 2013-2017

Guillaume Bresson
Huile sur toile
170 x 300 cm
Collection les Abattoirs, Musée-Frac Occitanie Toulouse
© ADAGP, Paris 2024, crédit photo: Bertrand Huet / Tutti image
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels

Sans titre, 2012-2013

Guillaume Bresson
Huile sur toile
169,9 x 269,9 cm
Collection particulière
© ADAGP, Paris 2024, crédit photo: Bertrand Huet / Tutti image
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels

Sans titre, 2023

Guillaume Bresson
Huile sur bois
187 x 126 x 8 cm, encadré
Belgique, Collection Diskus
© ADAGP, Paris 2024, crédit photo: Bertrand Huet / Tutti image
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Nathalie Obadia Paris/Brussels