Open to the public since Friday, after an opening organized the day before, the War and Peace exhibition immerses visitors in the world of Robert Combas, populated by ancient heroes, battles, black and white and explosions of color.
In the first room, The bypass of Sète by Hannibal gives a key to reading the exhibition. Robert Combas takes the figure of the Carthaginian general in order to anchor him in the Sète territory and the Thau basin. Hannibal avoids the city, passes through Balaruc, stops at Mèze and Poussan, under the gaze of Sète who remains in the distance. With humor and freedom, the artist makes the Mediterranean the scene of the adventures of his mischievous spirit.
On a large canvas, he added a large face with a pink line • @Yannick Pons
Just to the right, the artist appropriates the Pont du Gard. On a large canvas, he added a large face with a pink line before integrating the image of the Pont du Gard. The antique work slips into the middle of patterns, characters and bright colors.
Héros antiques
Roman emperors, ancient warriors, battle scenes and explosions of color. The Pont du Gard inaugurated the War and Peace exhibition by Robert Combas on Thursday evening in the presence of the artist, his wife, elected officials and around twenty journalists who came to discover the new cultural offering of the Gard site.
Until November 1, around sixty works by the founder of free figuration are installed in the exhibition rooms of the monument located in the basement. A dive into a universe populated by ancient heroes, mythology, war and Romanity, themes which run through the artist’s work Sète for several decades.
In the dark
In the rooms plunged into darkness, the paintings emerge from the darkness thanks to a particularly elaborate scenography. The dazzling colors of the works contrast with the seriousness of the subjects addressed. Because if Robert Combas has always painted battle, he also brings in humor, energy and a form of hope. An entire room in black and white, devoted to drawing and historical memory, marks this permanent alternation between war and peace.
Combat in the dark • @Yannick Pons
The exhibition brings together works from private collections, museums and the Pont du Gard collection. At the center of the visit are several paintings inspired by Antiquity, the Trojan War with Achilles and the Roman imagination. An ancient fascination for this artist deeply marked by the Mediterranean.
This summer, the ancient figures of Robert Combas will come to life on the arches of the Pont du Gard. Warriors, battles and Greco-Roman myths will marry the two-thousand-year-old stone in a spectacular video-mapping show designed by Christophe Berthonneau.
More information on this link.
