Papillon, 2025

Veronique Lesage  

A graduate of the École Supérieure Estienne in graphic arts, I have developed a visual style where gesture, energy, and trace are inseparable. My work is deeply inspired by oriental calligraphy, where technical mastery and inner breath converge in a free and fluid movement.

I use a variety of inks—walnut stain, sepia, black—but my favorites are indigo blue and gold ink, symbols of depth and light. Even in my paintings, blue remains my essential color: the one that best expresses my aspirations and inspirations.

My masters and influences are many: Georges Mathieu for the power of his gesture, also Eugène Delacroix, Théodore Géricault, and Edgar Degas, whose sensitivity to animals and freedom of touch nourish my approach. And of course Rosa Bonheur, a pioneer in the representation of the animal world, the first to capture its gaze, placing it at the heart of her canvases and giving it the leading role.

It is undoubtedly in response to my childhood memories, when I spent my holidays on my grandparents' farm surrounded by draft horses and other animals, that this animal has become the focus of my work. Through ink, water, and movement, I seek to convey the power, fluidity, and natural grace of the horse. Each stroke is the result of years of practice, where spontaneity becomes precision, and where form emerges in the fluidity of the gesture, between strength and lightness.

My works have been exhibited in China, Switzerland, New York, Miami, Quebec, Brussels, and of course in France, in Paris, Orléans, Saumur….

I have drawings in private collections in France and abroad and some in public collections (the Perche ecomuseum in the Orne region).