top of page

Marc TANGUY

Marc Tanguy was born in 1959 in Paris, where he lives and works. He has taken part in numerous exhibitions worldwide and his work is widely represented in collections across the world.

He studied under Zao Wou Ki at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, where he now teaches painting and drawing.  

Marc Tanguy's work is inspired by the colourist, figurative tradition represented by Monet, Bonnard, Diebenkorn and Peter Doig – a sensitive recreation of the visible world and nature.

At present, landscape is his preferred field of exploration. The lines between image and painting are blurred through sensitive, organic abstractions. Atmospheres, lights, colours and textures are expressed in an open, poetic space. But his aim is rather to re-create the world, to see it through a new visual filter and re-render it with unique, innovative chromatic palettes and original materials.

Landscapes become immersive, interior spaces: an incandescent sky, a silvered lake, a phosphorescent expanse — these moving images allow the beholder to find their own path. The titles of his work, like Perspective, Nuit (Perspective, Night), Au-Dessus du Ciel (Above the Sky), Au-Dessus de l’Horizon (Above the Horizon), Souvenir du Jardin de Monet (Memory of Monet's Garden), Lac, Hiver (Lake, Winter), Moving Landscape, Le Bout du Monde (The World's End), speak to his pursuit of the visible beyond realism.  

Since he paints space, he is especially interested in large-scale formats as they allow him to project the viewer into this "spatial material" he masters. Our questioning eyes are mesmerised, drawn into the hypnotic state his canvases give rise to.

He also paints a lot of watercolours when he travels and makes engravings.

bottom of page