Etang d'or avant la pluie - Série Lagune, 2026

William Fautré  

Born in 1958 in Normandy, William Fautré, who worked for thirty-five years as a photographer for specialist nature and tourism magazines (Terre Sauvage, Grands Reportages), has always painted alongside his professional career.
 

Self-taught, he also took sculpture classes in the studio of Pascal Gilbert de Vautibault, a resident of the Villa Medici. From his years as a photographer, he has retained a keen eye for detail, a careful selection of light, a precise sense of composition, and a deep immersion in the natural environment. His paintings mainly depict semi-abstract landscapes.
 

For him, a landscape is not merely a backdrop; it is also a vehicle for emotions. It transforms with the play of light. From those hours spent capturing the indefinable, he has retained a sense of fulfilment and energy. His paintings seek to recapture that unity of the moment. Standing before the canvas, emotions resurface. A horizon line where colours and shapes gradually compose landscapes that evolve on the edge of abstraction. It is this boundary that interests him, for it leaves room for the imagination. Little by little, the elements take shape as the painting is constructed. “I do not intend to reproduce nature, but to find my place alongside it.”