Let's take advantage of the Hervé di Rosa retrospective on view until August 2024 to take a closer look at this artist of incomparable style.

Hervé Di Rosa, born in Sète in 1959, emerged as an emblematic figure of the figuration libre movement in the 1980s. Co-founder of this artistic movement alongside Benjamin Vautier, better known under the pseudonym Ben, Di Rosa has charted an atypical artistic course.

After a year in a preparatory class, he joined the Ecole Normale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, where he studied animation. These formative years were enriched by artistic encounters and discoveries, laying the foundations for his creative path.

Hervé Di Rosa's first public appearance was in the summer of 1981, under the wing of art critic and collector Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, in the south of France. Alongside young artists such as François Boisrond and Robert Combas, the Figuration Libre movement was born, bringing together painters, a photographer and a sculptor.

At the heart of his artistic practice, Di Rosa advocates cultural cross-fertilization and a return to popular culture.
Inspired by comics, rock culture and art brut, his iconoclastic style stands in stark contrast to the more intellectual currents of Arte Povera and Minimalism.

In the 1990s, Hervé Di Rosa embarked on a series of trips around the world, absorbing influences from different cultures, traditions and artistic techniques. These experiences are reflected in his works, characterized by vivid colors, fantastical imagery and the figuration of singular motifs such as monsters and robots.

In 2000, Di Rosa gave concrete expression to his commitment to modest art by founding the Musée International des Arts Modestes (MIAM) in Sète. The MIAM offers a space dedicated to art that is not defined by concepts or movements, but rather focuses on bringing to light that which is generally overlooked.

Hervé Di Rosa has expanded his artistic practice over the course of his career, exploring linocuts and ceramics, becoming a multi-disciplinary artist. His work was exhibited at the Musée du Quai Branly in 2014 and at the Maison Rouge in Paris in 2016.
In 2018-2019, the Roubaix swimming pool hosted a double exhibition entitled "L'œuvre au monde", highlighting Di Rosa's enduring influence on the contemporary art scene.

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Watch our video on the Beaubourg exhibition