Matthieu Delfini

My artistic work is part of a research around interior and exterior spaces, human connections and the relationships that individuals maintain with themselves, others and the world around them.
I started painting almost by chance, following the convergence of several events: in November 2019, I broke my knee; friends had given me painting materials, watercolors to be precise, for my birthday two weeks earlier. Without this forced immobilization, I probably wouldn't have touched them so soon. I started to paint, and I realized that I am here on this Earth, among other things, to paint what I see of this world. What a challenge not to have started earlier, I thought to myself.
My journey began with an exploration of landscapes. Those of my native south have particularly forged my taste for natural spaces - seas, mountains, fields, cliffs - their colors and their structures. Through calm horizons, bathed in vibrant and meditative colors, the space invites contemplation and escape. These landscapes, sometimes real, sometimes imaginary, are for me a way of translating subtle emotional states and atmospheres conducive to reflection. In the background of these spaces, sometimes real, sometimes imaginary, evokes the notion of freedom that is anchored deep within its system. The paintings invite us to free ourselves from any temporal framework by escaping to a world on the border between reality and dreamlike.
Gradually, my attention shifted to human beings and scenes of everyday life. Fascinated by the richness of body language, I began to explore gestures, postures, and gazes—silent micro-expressions that tell stories, conveying tensions, connections, solitude, and introspection. My process aims to capture what cannot always be expressed in words: the invisible in human relationships. Through my works, I attempt to highlight the way each individual relates to their environment. It's about recounting moments of connection, or sometimes disconnection, between beings and their physical, social, or internal environment. My subjects evolve in dreamlike and symbolic universes, often timeless spaces where color becomes an emotional medium in its own right.
My choice of palette plays a central role in my approach: color, far from being purely descriptive, takes on an emotional meaning. Through its brightness, contrasts, or softness, it becomes a vehicle for transmitting impressions or triggering a sensory resonance in the viewer. Each painting is for me an invitation to dialogue: with the viewer, but also with that part of humanity that resonates beyond differences. I seek to convey the universality of human relationships, while leaving everyone the freedom to appropriate an emotion or memory.
A recent one-month artist residency (November 2024) at Bandjoun Station, Cameroon, greatly enriched my thinking and creative process. This stay allowed me to reconcile my central themes – human connections – with the specific challenges of sub-Saharan Africa. In this context rich in contrasts, I observed relationships marked by both solidarity and resilience, where community plays a key role in interactions and daily life. These experiences have influenced my way of telling stories in my works, infusing them with a new perspective that is both local and universal.
As I evolve, I hope that the works will resemble open visual narratives, where the viewer is invited to project their own perception and feelings. Far from imposing a single interpretation, I seek to create a space for dialogue that questions our relationships with others, the world, and ourselves. Through this journey, I strive for a quest: to capture the essence of what connects human beings to each other, beyond geographical, social, or cultural boundaries.