JEAN-CLAUDE PICARD

By the end of the 19th century, the painted landscape was no longer seen as just a

reflection of the land, but as a separate cosmos, one that should only be governed by

itself. With this in mind, a new view of art was born, finding its peak in abstract art, turning

down all representational references. However, there are still painters today who have not

given up on visual reality; they are looking for a synthesis of an atmospheric natural view

and a compositional freedom that speaks beyond what the eye sees - Picard is one.

Born in 1943 in Yugoslavia, Picard began his education as a poster and scene painter,

and furthered his education as a freelance artist in many European countries. Since 1965

he worked as a full-time artist in Cologne, Germany, conducting several painting schools

and international art seminars. He has been living and working in Spain since 2000.

In his youth, he discovered Provence, Roussillion and Catalonia as a painter’s paradise

and he visits each region as often as possible. These austere landscapes with their

tremendous light are the subject to his mostly large format paintings.

In rural scenes, between the sun-bathed hills and shady pinewoods, he has settled into

the atmosphere that he needs to express his individual style. The refined surface structure

he manages to achieve wonderfully represents the rousing buzz of the Mediterranean air.

Unconventional use of colour and a broad language of shapes are significant in his painting,

suggesting the essence of the atmosphere rather than the reality of the eye’s view. Picard

only works on his forays in nature with a sketch block and watercolour paints, converting

his impressions to canvas with his elaborate technique in his studio.

He aspires to bring together his impressions of the origins of the landscape with an

underlying sense of order, for which he uses prismatic patterns to enhance the shining

colours and gentle hills. Spring and autumn are arranging themselves into an impression

of the landscape, in all its beauty, for the viewer.