Mano a mano, 2017

Francine Van Hove   Emerging artists

Francine Van Hove draws and paints young women. Her models collaborate with the artist to find the best poses that they must hold for hours. Preparatory drawing sessions enable the painter to capture the casual gesture as well as its graphic and sculptural qualities. Her figurative nude drawings and paintings are realistic, natural and sweet insights into everyday scenes.

Under an apparent simplicity, her everyday life scenes keep a kind of mystery. In a safe place, unconscious or unconcerned by their own beauty, young girls let themselves enjoy laziness or everyday pleasures: reading, having tea, daydreaming or sleeping. Sometimes pensive, other times melancholic, they forbid us the access to their inner life and stay in a way elusive. Francine Van Hove's work reflects a feeling of impossibility of communication and a saving loneliness, as a retreat deliberately chosen to be protected from the noise of the world.

Influenced by Greek sculpture, Flemish painting and the Italian Renaissance, Francine Van Hove seeks to perpetuate the classical tradition of painting: her refined work brings a sensation of wonder through the play of light, the rendering of the textures and the richness of details. Her skillfully modelled bodies impose a dreamy harmony through the perfection of their confident gestures.

Her work, exclusively figurative, comprises over 400 paintings, as well as numerous drawings and pastels, all held in private collections. Represented for 32 years by Galerie Alain Blondel, she is now supported by Jean-Marie Oger, a former collaborator of the gallery. Her solo exhibitions have been hosted in prestigious venues such as Galerie de Bellefeuille in Montreal, Galerie L'Œil du Prince in Paris, and Galerie Jean-Marie Oger, with notable shows including Florilège in Arles in 2019 and Drawings & Paintings in Paris in 2023.