PARIS — In a world often weighed down by its own seriousness, Thierry Bruet’s paintings offer a mischievous escape. From Sept. 12 to 25, 2025, Galerie MR8 at 8 rue des Francs-Bourgeois in Paris’s vibrant 4th arrondissement will host the artist’s first major solo exhibition, showcasing 40 large-scale oil paintings. Commissioned by a private patron, this audacious display, titled “Être de Peinture,” promises to jolt viewers with its blend of classical mastery and irreverent wit.
Bruet, born in Paris in 1949, has spent over four decades honing a style that marries the techniques of old masters like Georges de La Tour and Caravaggio with the raw edge of modern giants like Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. His canvases—grand in scale and ambition—juxtapose the refined with the grotesque, the timeless with the contemporary. Works like “Portail Spatio-Temporel,” “XXL,” “Escarpins,” “La Trottineuse,” and “Olympio de Bruet” revel in exaggerated proportions, frozen poses, and sly gazes, often punctuated by unexpected modern objects. The result is a visual collision that both honors and subverts artistic icons, leaving viewers caught between laughter and unease.
As art historian Jean-Marc Elsholz writes in his forthcoming book, “Thierry Bruet, Être de Peinture,” set for release in September 2025, “This fusion between the conceptual being and the artist declares an absolute subjection to his art. Through his work, without distraction, Thierry Bruet is his painting, perhaps painting itself.” Elsholz captures the essence of Bruet’s devotion: an artist who channels the absurdities of the world into canvases that provoke and amuse. Bruet himself has said, “It is important not to be serious,” a credo that underpins his playful yet biting commentary on vanity, decay, and existence.
The exhibition’s scenography is as bold as the works themselves, designed to amplify their impact through dynamic interplay with the gallery space. Bruet’s paintings, with their meticulous oil techniques, evoke the grandeur of classical art while delivering a cynical wink. His characters—sometimes ecstatic, sometimes mischievous—seem to mock both themselves and the viewer, creating what Elsholz calls a “scandalous telescoping” of eras and ideas.
Bruet’s career is as storied as his art. His works have graced prestigious venues worldwide, from Paris’s Institut du Monde Arabe to the Four Seasons hotels in Alexandria, Florence, and London. Commissioned by renowned French decorators like Alberto Pinto and Pierre-Yves Rochon, his paintings adorn iconic spaces such as the George V, the Bristol, and Hermès stores in Paris. Exhibitions from Art Fair Paris to SH Contemporary Shanghai and Luxembourg ARTWEEK have cemented his global presence. Notable shows under the French Ministry of Culture in Metz and at the Musée Thiers, backed by the Institut de France, underscore his stature.
The vernissage, open to the press on Sept. 11, 2025, at 5 p.m., offers a first glimpse into Bruet’s world—a place where elegance meets caricature, and reverence dances with rebellion. For those seeking art that challenges and delights, Galerie MR8 will be the place to be.