Herman de Vries Exhibition in Mouans-Sartoux

The history between Herman de Vries and the Espace de l’Art Concret is long and deep. Even before the opening of the Art Center, Sybil Albers and Gottfried Honegger were already familiar with the artist’s works, acquiring several of them.

The exhibition “Terre, vie, poésie” in 1991, held a year after the inauguration of the EAC, facilitated a closer collaboration, offering the opportunity to collect samples of over 220 crops, gathered in the surroundings of Mouans-Sartoux.

The new monographic exhibition on Herman de Vries provides a unique opportunity to explore the links between his artistic practice and his activity as a publisher of artist books.

Herman de Vries

The first part of the exhibition features works from the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by a radically different pictorial language, sometimes playful with randomness.

From 1970 onwards, long trips to India and the Seychelles led him to discover that true art resides in nature itself. His philosophy then becomes: “My poetry is the world”, a fundamental concept that permeates his work to this day.

The second part of the exhibition focuses on works made with and within nature, using materials such as plants, earth, stones, and shells, but also involving humans, artifacts, and traditional practices.

Herman de Vries’s view of the world is nourished by a direct experience of nature, through walks, contemplations, and traces left behind, as well as by Buddhist thought, which provides him with the tools to reflect on the interdependence of all that exists.

His artistic work in various sites, especially in the Alps of Haute-Provence, demonstrates a particular attention to the identity and stories of these places.

The Espace de l’Art Concret, a contemporary art center of national interest – Donation Albers-Honegger, is located in the Château de Mouans in Mouans-Sartoux. The exhibition will be open until January 5, 2025.