Nicolas Maureau

Nicolas Maureau paints figures we think we already know : saints, rulers, mythological characters. He lets them slip into our present, a king appears in contemporary clothing, a mythological scene becomes an ordinary moment, a saint is shown before they become the legend we remember.

Across series such as En Majesté, Mystiques, Mélancolie, he asks what remains of a story once its original context is stripped away: the gesture, the expression, the human experience, rather than the narrative itself.

His series En majesté revisits historical figures associated with power through the conventions of the traditional portrait. Rulers and other figures of authority are presented as they might appear today, creating a direct encounter between the codes of historical portraiture and contemporary life.

In Mystiques, Maureau returns to the representation of saints, one of the most enduring subjects in Western painting. Rather than depicting their legendary deeds or miracles, he presents them as young, solitary figures, suspended before the moment when they become the saints we know. Their identities are suggested through a few traditional attributes, but these clues never completely explain the image.

Mélancolie, created between 2020 and 2...

Graduated from the Ecole Supérieure d’Art de Bretagne in Rennes France

Solo Shows :

2025
En Majesté / Omnibus - Tarbes, France

2022
Hors là / Musée Camos - Bargemon, France

2021
Hors là / Omnibus - Tarbes, France

2020
Tableaux de Chasse / Omnibus - Tarbes, France

2019
Tableaux de Chasse / Galerie d'Art Contemporain - Mourenx, France

2019
Tableaux de Chasse / Galerie Elizabeth Couturier - Lyon, France

2018
Scénes de Genre / Les Essarts - Bram, France

2017
La Traversée des Apparences / Omnibus - Tarbes, France

2016
Scénes de Genre / Galerie Elizabeth Couturier - Lyon, France

2014
Mise au Noir / Galerie Elizabeth Couturier - Lyon, France

2014
Mythographie / Bibliothèque de l’orde, Palais de justice de Toulouse - Toulouse, France

2012
METAMORPHOSES / Théâtre Alizé - Festival d’Avignon - Avignon, France

2011
Victimes Martyrs Héros / Galerie des sources - Fontenilles, France

2011
Noli Me Tangere / Espace Antonin Artaud , (MDC Galerie Sainte-Catherine) - Rodez, France

2010
Une Certaine Humanité... / Galerie CDA - Toulouse, France

2008
Victimes Martyrs Héros / Galerie Bicoq - Toulouse, France