Belgian artist Michaël Borremans will present French Paintings at David Zwirner Paris from June 5 to July 22, marking his first solo exhibition in France in two decades. Hosted at the gallery’s Marais location, the exhibition introduces a new body of oil-on-canvas works that engage with the legacy of French painting while examining themes of beauty, ambiguity, and psychological tension.
The exhibition arrives at a significant moment in Borremans’ career, reinforcing his position as one of the most influential figurative painters working today. Moreover, the presentation highlights his ongoing exploration of art history through imagery that appears familiar yet remains deliberately unsettling.
Reimagining French Pictorial Traditions
Known for meticulously crafted compositions and muted, atmospheric palettes, Borremans has developed a distinctive visual language that merges technical precision with enigmatic subject matter. Consequently, his paintings often occupy a space between portraiture, still life, and staged fiction.
In French Paintings, the artist revisits elements associated with French art history while simultaneously questioning their cultural authority. Rather than offering direct references, the works transform traditional pictorial conventions through scenes that appear suspended between reality and imagination.
Throughout the exhibition, figures emerge within carefully constructed environments where symbolism and narrative remain intentionally unresolved. As a result, viewers encounter paintings that encourage contemplation rather than straightforward interpretation.
Between Beauty and Disquiet
A recurring tension runs through the new works. Images associated with comfort, innocence, and nature appear alongside symbols of threat and disruption, creating visual contrasts that challenge conventional ideas of beauty.
Missiles, explosives, and other agents of violence are juxtaposed with softer motifs, including magnolia branches and protective body padding. Furthermore, these pairings generate a dialogue between vulnerability and power, serenity and conflict, and organic life and technological intervention.
Borremans’ practice has long attracted attention beyond the contemporary art world. His imagery has influenced figures across fashion, film, and visual culture, including Jun Takahashi and Luca Guadagnino. Nevertheless, painting remains at the centre of his work, serving as a medium through which he investigates perception, memory, and the subconscious.
Reflecting on the relationship between aesthetics and disturbance, Borremans stated in a 2024 interview: “That’s very subversive, making something beautiful into an act of perversion. I like this richness, the illusions it brings up, the way it speaks to the unconscious.”
With French Paintings, Borremans returns to Paris with a project that simultaneously acknowledges and destabilises artistic tradition. Through technically refined yet psychologically charged compositions, the exhibition offers a contemporary reconsideration of painting’s enduring capacity to provoke, seduce, and unsettle.