Event about Yves Brayer
Editions des Falaises
PUBLICATION OF THE BOOK: YVES BRAYER - Voyages
March 1st 2024
Yves Brayer was born in Versailles in 1907. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Bourges and then in Paris. After visits to Spain in 1927 and Morocco in 1928, he won the Prix de Rome and spent three years at the Villa Medici from 1930 to 1934.
After his Spanish black period, followed by Italian ochre and red, he diversified his palette by introducing greens, pale yellows and a few blues. Although Provence and the Camargue remained his home, he was strongly attracted to Mediterranean landscapes. He returns regularly to work in his favourite countries: Italy and Spain, as well as Portugal and the Canaries. His thirst for discovery and travel led him to visit Greece, Egypt, Iran, Israel and other continents such as Mexico, the United States, Japan and Russia. An indefatigable draughtsman, he never leaves his sketch pads of various sizes, bearing witness to the landscapes and atmospheres he travels through. His day's drawings were immediately processed in watercolour in the evening when he arrived at the hotel, using the fresh colours he still remembered.
He died in 1990 and is buried in Les Baux-de-Provence, where the Yves Brayer Museum was opened in 1991.
His work can be found in a number of museums and collections in France and abroad. He was a teacher at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, President of the Salon d'Automne and, as a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, curator of the Musée Marmottan-Claude Monet in Paris.
A doctor by training and a renowned explorer, Jean-Louis Étienne was the first man to reach the North Pole solo in 1986 and to make the first complete crossing of Antarctica in 1989-1890. A tireless defender of the planet, his many educational and scientific expeditions aim to raise awareness of the polar regions and understand the role they play in life and the Earth's climate. His love of great adventures will take him to the Southern Ocean in 2025 for an unprecedented exploration aboard the oceanographic platform Polar Pod. He is also the author of some thirty books.
Editions des Falaises
136 pages
24 €
Event in Baux de Provence Yves Brayer museum
Temporary Exhibition
BERNARD BUFFET - Une Amitié d'Artistes
May 7th > November 9th 2026
Their paths first crossed in 1947 during the jury at the École des Beaux-Arts, and then again in 1948 at the Salon d'Automne, where Bernard Buffet was admitted as a member. But their true friendship blossomed much later, in 1974, when Brayer actively campaigned for Buffet's election to the Académie des Beaux-Arts. This was achieved on January 22, 1975.
Yves Brayer and Bernard Buffet shared much more than their passion for painting: a profound love for art, whether ancient or Flemish, Romantic or modern. They admired Gros, Delacroix, Géricault, Goya, and Francis Gruber—a close friend of Brayer's. Both were staunch defenders of Figurative art, stubbornly rejecting Abstraction. They were also tireless workers: one painted by day, the other by night.
A selection of works from 1947 to 1998 offers a glimpse into the breadth of Bernard Buffet's oeuvre. This exhibition, "Une Amitié d'Artiste" pays tribute to this rare relationship, built on deep friendship and mutual admiration. To celebrate it, works by Yves Brayer are displayed alongside those of Bernard Buffet in a sensitive and understated dialogue, just as Bernard Buffet's works reinterpret the permanent collections.
On view from may 7th until November 9th at the Yves Brayer Museum in Les Baux-de-Provence.
Virtual Visit of the Museum
VIDEO of the Museum 3'40"
HORARY :
April to September : open every day : 10:00 am to 12:30 pm and 2:00 pm to 6:30 pm
October to March : open every day except Tuesday : 1:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Annual closure : January, February, early March.
Reopening on Thursday March 5th, 2026 at 1:00 pm
FEES :
Adults : 8.00 € per person
Groups of 10 et + : 4.00 € per person
Free: 17 years and less (accompanied by an adult)
Reduced rate on presentation of PASS BAUX-DE-PROVENCE (Carrières de Lumières + Château des Baux) : 4€ per person
For any complementary information on the museum
Tél : +33 (0)4 90 54 36 99 or +33 (0)4 90 97 78 53
For any further information or documentation on the exhibition
Tel : +33 (0)6 21 23 06 92 or +33 (0)6 23 16 47 75
Email : olivier@yvesbrayer.com