The Odyssey (2013-2014)

« Ulysse wandering run is an allegory. Ulysse is a way to express all vertus that Homer has created ; through Ulysse, Homer learns wisdom because he hates vices that devastate humanity. » Héraclite, 6th BC

I read for the first time Homer’s Odyssey at the age of 17. Then, again when I was 30 and 40. In 2013 I decided to create Odysseys’s paintings because this universal master piece is timesless and full of humanity. The philosophical Homer’s Odyssey created our western basic ethical values (charity, kindness, patience, bravery, forgiveness).

This choice is personal too. When I was 8, the japanese cartoon « Ulysse 31 » has stimultaed my imagination and gave me forever the desire for adventure and creation. When I became an adult, I was very impressed and touched by my first boat trips to Greece. And, as Jacqueline Romilly wrote « life beauty is everywhere in Homer’s poetry ».

Each Odyssey painting tells an episod of Ulysse’s story. The oil canvases palette is deliberately restricted to 4 colors : black, white, red ochre, yellow ochre. These genuine colors are natural pigments (described by the roman naturalist author Pline the Ancient in his painting essay – Histoire naturelle, livre XXXV). They have been used in antic greek vases , Fayoum portraits and Pompei frescoes.