Volendam, 1955

Roger Chapelain-Midy  

Roger Chapelain-Midy studied at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, then continued his artistic training in the painting academies of the Montparnasse district. Later, he will become a workshop head teacher from 1955 to 1974.

He exhibited in 1927 at the Salon d'Automne and from 1929 at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des Tuileries. Armand Drouant in 1930 organizes his first exhibition in his gallery rue de Rennes in Paris. Fascinated by the Renaissance, the painting of Poussin and that of the 17th century, he defends a classical tradition, made of measure, in an era which saw the great upheavals of modern painting.

He received the Carnegie Prize in 1938.

.Theatrical decorator and costume designer, from 19426, he notably worked for Les Indes galantes by Rameau in 1952, and for Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Paris Opera in 1954. The success of his work enabled him to work at the Cologne Opera. As such, he will receive the grand prize for theater at the Sao-Paulo international biennial in 1962. We also owe him illustrations for texts by Jean Giraudoux, André Gide, Charles Baudelaire, Fontenelle, Jean de La Fontaine, Charles Vildrac, George.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, then President of the French Republic, commissioned a Portrait of General de Gaulle from him for the Élysée Palace in Paris.

In a late line of symbolism and surrealism, a whole part of his work bears the imprint of his spiritual preoccupations, materialized by the haunting recurrence of decorations and unusual objects such as checkerboard tiles, masks, mannequins and mirrors.

In 1984, he published a collection of memories and reflections on art, Like the sand between the fingers.

Public collections

National Museum of Modern Art,
City of Paris Museum of Modern Art,
Museums in Albi, Angers, Bordeaux, Cambrai, Dijon, Dreux, Épinal, Fontainebleau, La Rochelle, La Tronche, Le Mans, Lyon, Menton, Remiremont, Rouen, Saintes, Saint-Étienne.

Museums in Algiers, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Birmingham, Brussels, Cairo, London, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Sofia.

Roubaix, La Piscine, André-Diligent museum of art and industry.
Portrait of General de Gaulle, 1980, Paris, Élysée Palace