Pierre Doutreleau, is a visionary French painter whose figurative and narrative work transcends the boundaries of conventional expression. With a career spanning over sixty decades, Doutreleau has consistently pushed the limits of creativity, exploring themes of identity, nature, and the human experience through a variety of mediums, including oil, pastels, and lithographies. His unique approach and innovative techniques have earned him a distinguished place in the contemporary art world.
Doutreleau, as a perfect initiate, practices a wise balance between pleasure and drama to build his work. The image conveyed by Doutreleau is polymorphic: it seems still and yet it lives, moves, and vibrates. Born from movement, it does not seek to impose itself as a discourse on things but simply to emit signs and words. Doutreleau takes the art lover by the hand, leads them to the mountain’s summit, and helps them understand the essence of being. The quest for beauty involves revealing the dialectic of drama and pleasure, joy and pain, suffering and happiness. It is at this level that Doutreleau’s particular condition becomes a projection of the human condition.
Pierre Doutreleau was born on June 14, 1938, in Arles, France, a region renowned for its luminous light that inspired Jacques Réattu, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gaugin, Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. Doutreleau’s early exposure to this unique light profoundly influenced his artistic vision. This became the central theme of his work, characterized by his distinctive application of thick, textural blocks of pigment, reminiscent of de Staël’s style.
In 1958, Félix Aublet, one of Nicolas de Staël’s close friend, finds in Doutreleau’s artwork an evolution of the narrative established by de Staël and supported him to exhibit. Soon after Hélène Cingria introduced him to Lucile Manguin, who had just opened the Galerie de Paris and took him under contract in 1964.
In 1968, during a stay in the United States, Doutreleau had a revelation that would further define his artistic focus: the exploration of speed and movement, capturing the invisible instant to the eye.
Doutreleau continues to paint in his atelier set in the middle of the picturesque region of Camargue, drawing inspiration from his surroundings to pursue his quest in capturing light and motion.
In 1958, Félix Aublet, one of Nicolas de Staël’s close friend, finds in Doutreleau’s artwork an evolution of the narrative established by de Staël and supported him to exhibit. Soon after Hélène Cingria introduced him to Lucile Manguin, who had just opened the Galerie de Paris and took him under contract in 1964.
His paintings are known for their gradients of subtle color, contrasted by a central, often out-of-focus, representational image, offering a psychological exploration of how light is manipulated by speed, reflection, or atmospheric depth. Overall, Doutreleau’s approach to painting is deeply connected to his passion for movement, life, and the elements.
“What really interests me is painting the wind.” he explains, “In life, everything is movement. And if sometimes my paintings give the impression of stillness, it’s because, in reality, they emanate from movement. I paint precise moments of life.”
His works have been exhibited in prestigious art galleries in Europe, United States and Japan, as well as museums around the world, including the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Tate Modern in London.
His pieces are also held in esteemed private collections, a testament to his enduring legacy.
- 2024 LYON – Galerie St Hubert
- 2023 ARLES – Private exhibition at the Atelier
- NANCY – Galerie Raugraff
- 2021 NANCY – Galerie Raugraff
- 2018 NANCY – Galerie Raugraff
- 2017 MEXICO – Bauhaus Ediciones de Diseño
- 2015 NANCY – Galerie Raugraff
- 2006 ST TROPEZ – Chateau des Marres
- 2005 GENEVA – Benoit de Gorski
- 2000 PALM BEACH – Wally Findlay Gallery
- EAST HAMPTON – Wally Findlay Gallery
- 1999 PARIS – Terre des Arts
- 1998 NANCY – Galerie Raugraff
- 1996 PARIS – Miromesnil Fine Art Gallery
- SONSBEEK – Arnhem
- LYON – Galerie St Hubert
- LAUSANNE – Galerie du Chêne
- 1994 DEAUVILLE – Galerie A. Apesteguy
- 1993 LE TOUQUET – Galerie de l’Ermitage
- 1992 TOKYO – OSAKA – SENDAI – HAMAMATSU
- 1991 PARIS – Galerie Saphir
- NANCY – Galerie Raugraff
- 1990 TOKYO – YOKOHAMA – OSAKA – NAGOYA
- 1989 GSTAAD – Galerie Francis
- 1988 MUNICH – Galerie G. Schneider
- 1987 SETE – Musée Paul Valéry
- 1986 PARIS – Galerie Robin Léadouze
- 1985 MUNICH – Galerie G. Schneider
- 1984 MARSEILLE – Galerie Agora
- 1983 DALLAS – l’Orangerie Gallery
- LA BAULE – Galerie l’Hermitage
- LAUSANNE – Galerie Cimaises
- PARIS – Ferrari Exhibition “L’Art & l’Auto”
- 1982 PARIS – Galerie Pierre Hautot,
- CANNES – Galerie Alvarez
- PARIS – Wally Findlay Gallery
- PARIS – Salon Retromobile
- 1981 NEW YORK – Wally Findlay Gallery
- CHICAGO – Wally Findlay Gallery
- PALM BEACH – Wally Findlay Gallery
- BEVERLY HILLS – Wally Findlay Gallery
- 1980 NEW YORK – Odermatt & Cardin Gallery
- NEW YORK – Wally Findlay Gallery
- 1979 MADRID – Arco
- 1978 PARIS – Orangerie du Luxembourg
- 1977 AIX EN PROVENCE – Maîtres Contemporains
- PARIS – Centre Pompidou
- 1976 RIO DE JANEIRO – Graffiti Gallery
- SAO PAULO – Jardim dos Artes Gallery
- BARCELONA – Festival of Sports – French Pavilion
- 1975 PARIS – “LA VITESSE” Salon du Bourget
- LA BAULE – Hôtel de Ville
- 1973 PARIS – Galerie de Paris
- PARIS – Musée des Sports
- SINGAPOOR – Musée d’Art Moderne
- 1972 CHICAGO – Wally Findlay Gallery
- PALM BEACH – Wally Findlay Gallery
- GENEVA – Galerie du Théâtre
- 1971 NEW-YORK – Wally Findlay Gallery
- ST-TROPEZ – Galerie Tallien
- 1970 PARIS – Galerie de Paris
- 1969 ABIDJAN – Hôtel de Ville
- JOHANNESBOURG – Leidchi Art Gallery
- ARLES – Manoir du Mad
- 1968 PARIS – Galerie de Paris
- 1967 GENEVA – Galerie du Théatre
- 1966 PARIS – Galerie de Paris
- DALLAS – Morgan Knott Gallery
- 1964 PARIS – Galerie de Paris
- 1956 ARLES – First exhibition
“This is just an excuse to portrait the drama of life behind the modesty of dreams…
Artwork must deliver emotions, everything else is just literature”
Pierre Doutreleau
Paysages
Sérénité
Océan
L’eau
Sport
Automobiles
Nues
Mouvement
Corrida
Urbanisme
Fleurs
Nature Morte
