Heir of Goya and Abstract Expressionism, the painting of Roger-Edgar Gillet finally rediscovered in an unprecedented retrospective
Héritière de Goya et de l’expressionnisme abstrait, la peinture de Roger-Edgar Gillet enfin redécouverte dans une rétrospective inédite
A major retrospective at the Musée Estrine in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence finally brings long-overdue recognition to French painter Roger-Edgar Gillet (1924–2004), an artist who emerged from the post-war abstraction scene of the Nouvelle École de Paris but later forged a singular figurative style blending Goya, Delacroix, and Northern grotesque traditions. The exhibition follows two important donations—to the Centre Pompidou in 2017 and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes in 2022—that helped revive institutional interest in Gillet, whose work had been marginalized since the 1960s.