François Malbreil

Born in Versailles into a family with roots in Pamiers (Ariège), François Malbreil spent his youth between Algeria and Martinique. These radiant and cosmopolitan horizons sharpened early on his keen observational eye. Moving to Toulouse to study English and Anglo-Saxon literature at Université du Mirail, he regularly frequented museums, copied the old masters, and deliberately committed himself to demanding figurative painting at a time when conceptual trends dominated the art world.

In the early 1980s, he asserted himself on the artistic scene by co-founding the Réel Peint group and the Action Peinture collective in Toulouse, advocating for contemporary figurative painting rooted in observable reality. His approach promptly attracted the attention of leading galleries and public institutions, culminating in exhibitions at Musée Goya in Castres, Musée Ingres in Montauban, and Musée des Augustins in Toulouse.

His journey took on an exceptional dimension when he settled for nearly ten years on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The Natural History Museum commissioned him to produce authoritative ornithological plates. From there, he embarked aboard the renowned supply ship Marion Dufresne to share the daily existence of scientific expeditions across the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Kerguelen, Crozet, Saint-Paul, and Amsterdam islands), painting in extreme subpolar conditions.

Today dividing his time between his Toulouse studio and the foothills of Ariège, François Malbreil continues to explore the world with unwavering lucidity. His pictorial universe encompasses industrial harbors, container ships on the open sea, neotropical plant architectures, airport runways at twilight, and the quiet contemplation of open verandas.