Biography
Michel Phelippeau
🎨 A painting by Michel Phelippeau is not just looked at. It is felt.
Dancers suspended mid-motion.
Provençal landscapes bathed in golden light.
Interiors where shadow and warmth vie for the canvas.
🌍 Berlin · Dubai · London · Zurich · New York
📰 Pratique des Arts cover, 2019
🏆 Akoun-certified · Opulent Art Gallery London
From Grasse, Michel Phelippeau paints, every morning, the exact feeling of a moment.
His collectors come from France, Germany, Japan, the Emirates.
Many had never bought a painting before.
They always come back.
In the studio — Grasse
Born in 1958, Michel Phelippeau has nurtured a passion for painting since his youth, strengthened by many visits to the Louvre and other museums.
He developed his craft at the École d'Étampes under the direction of Philippe Lejeune, as well as alongside professional painters specialising in landscapes, portraits, anatomy and still lifes. His training was further enriched through drawing and painting from life, notably life-model sessions at the Beaux-Arts de Cannes.
His artistic work is rooted in oil painting, done primarily on linen canvas, with particular attention to colour harmony and composition. Michel Phelippeau explores impressionism through landscapes, portraits and scenes in which light plays an essential role. He also uses varied techniques, such as textural effects created with solvent drips, which bring transparency and texture to his work.
For more than 25 years he has exhibited his work in France, notably in the Grasse region, where he runs a personal gallery that also serves as his studio. His work has also been shown in Paris, Italy and the United States. Alongside his artistic practice, he has spent the last six years running painting workshops in Grasse, teaching an international audience.
Through his work, Michel Phelippeau seeks to convey a soothing atmosphere and a sincere emotion, inviting the viewer into quiet reflection and an immersion in Provençal nature and light.
- Born
- 1958
- Medium
- Oil painting, primarily on linen canvas
- Training
- École d'Étampes (under the direction of Philippe Lejeune) · Life drawing at the Beaux-Arts de Cannes
- Themes
- Portraits, landscapes, still lifes, figures
- Gallery
- Espace Michel Phelippeau, Grasse (studio and personal gallery)
- Representation
- Opulent Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom (since 2025)
- Affiliations
- Member of the Fondation Taylor
Awards & Distinctions
- 2025 — Certified and valued as a painter by Akoun, France
- 2018 — Member of the Fondation Taylor, Paris, France
- 2017 — Nominee, Salon de la Marine, Trocadéro, Paris, France
- 2018 — Éclat de Verre Prize, Biennale de Versailles, France
Solo Exhibitions
- 2026 — "Sunlit Landscapes," Galerie Espace Michel Phelippeau, Grasse, France
- 2025 — "Luminous Landscapes," Galerie Espace 12 rue Amiral de Grasse, Grasse, France
- 2020 – 2024 — Ongoing solo exhibition, Gallery, Grasse, France
- 2015 — Solo exhibition, Gallery, Metz, France
- 2014 — Solo exhibition, Gallery, Gourdon, France
Group Exhibitions
- 2025 — Nicoletta Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- 2025 — Casa del Arte, Palma, Spain
- 2025 — Andakulova Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- 2025 — Thomson Gallery, Zug, Switzerland
- 2025 — Swissartexpo Salon, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2018 — 3rd Contemporary Art Biennale of Versailles, France
- 2017 — Salon d'Automne, Paris, France
Publications & Press
- 2020 — "Senteurs picturales en Birmanie," book, 160 pages, hardcover, Diverti Éditions
- 2019 — Pratique des Arts issue no. 149 — cover photo and 6-page feature
- 2014 — International Contemporary Artists, Vol. VIII, pp. 234–235, ICA Publishing, New York & Athens