The Estrine Museum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, in collaboration with the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, is presenting the first major retrospective of Roger-Edgar Gillet’s work since the artist’s death in 2004. The exhibition will subsequently move to Rennes. Roger Gillet often said: “The important thing is to disrupt the gaze. ” This is precisely what he accomplished with relish throughout his life. The first name Edgar was bestowed upon him by his friend, the painter Maurice Ronet, due to his supposed resemblance to Edgar Poe… Roger-Edgar Gillet’s caustic art disregards the base complacency of seductive images. His painting is first and foremost a rejection of the obvious in art. His early creative years (he was associated with lyrical abstraction) are at once abstract, expressive, and highly textured. But during a trip to New York’s Metropolitan Museum, he was struck by a portrait of a bishop painted by El Greco.
“Faced with the malice in that gaze, I told myself that with abstract painting, we were losing something: we could no longer paint the depth of a gaze.”

Excerpt from Christian Noorbergen’s article published in issue No. 117 of the magazine Art Absolument.

exhibition's website