"Me, I mix everything, current events, conflicts, History" : mythology, war scenes and vibrant colors, the

Robert Combas comes to Pont-du-Gard. The Sète artist unveils around forty works around the theme “War and Peace”. An exhibition which highlights Greco-Roman culture in all its forms to be discovered until November 1. Guided tour with the artist.

When mythology meets the brush of Combas, war scenes in vibrant, spectacular colors.

A frontal clash between Antiquity and free figuration. Since the start of his career, in the 1980s, war has always inhabited the work of the artist from Sète.

It is more an influence of current events, of conflicts, but also an influence simply of History itself and of our history. So, it comes together, all of that, to make an artistic work that is more creative than simply a technical work that would talk about Antiquity or something else. I mix everything together. Besides, I could only have been a battle painter, you see, I would only have done battles.

Robert Combas, painter of the “War and Peace” exhibition.

France 3 Occitanie

War everywhere, all the time, like a monumental 9-meter canvas on the confrontation between Greeks and Trojans.

For the exhibition, whose theme he himself chose, the 69-year-old artist also created a new work on the Pont du Gard.

“In my work, there is still a very… borderline psychedelic side. So, it’s very full, there is a rhythmic side. I didn’t want to carry out the Pont-du-Gard attack but I should have done it”, laughs Robert Combas.

But no war without moments of peace. Like when the female nude appears at the forefront of a Greek conflict… another one.

Or through this canvas, representing his autistic brother in the middle of a lush forest, breathing in the middle of chaos.

“We can see him as a character who represents anyone. I think. That’s why it’s an important painting, because I think everyone sees themselves in this painting. And then, we don’t have to look at the guy in the middle, we can also look at the rest which is practically at the limit of abstract painting but which is full of insects and flowers”, explains the painter.

Alongside the exhibition, a video creation by group F on the work of Robert Combas will be projected on the Pont du Gard in mapping. A show to discover from July 4 and until August 30 at 10:30 p.m.

Robert Combas exhibition, Pont du Gard – left bank, until November 1, 2026.

Written with J. Paul.