Bénédicte’s original horse paintings are a fine balance between realistic and abstract.
French artist Bénédicte Gelé paints horses. Born in 1975 in a Parisian suburb, she never had a connection with horses until she started to ride them at the age of 15.
Inspiration Behind Benedicte’s Original Horse Paintings
This post may contain affiliate links, which means we’ll receive a commission if you purchase through our link, at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure here.
The transition to becoming a professional artist
“I always was an artist and life managed to keep me this way,” Bénédicte says. She studied at Applied Arts and became a graphic designer. She kept drawing and painting (mostly landscapes) in the evening.
Finally, Bénédicte found herself unemployed and pregnant. She wanted to become a freelance graphic designer, then transition to becoming a full-time artist. In 2006, she had started to make some exhibitions and sold her art.
Way ahead of her hands
Bénédicte hates repetition. She’d constantly looking for ways to work differently, try new mediums or new tools, and explore other colors. She works on multiple artworks at the same time. It allows her to work on several ideas consecutively: here more on the attitude, here on the expression, here more on letting go, etc…
Currently, she’s working on a series of five small canvases. “It’s so small that I just have to focus on the essentials of the attitude, light & shadows,” she says. She’s also working on a big painting commission. It’s so big that she really enjoys letting go with the movements of her arm and the freedom of the lines. And she’s working on a series of energetic horses and expressive heads with monochrome inks. “My head exhausts me sometimes,” Bénédicte says. “It’s way ahead of my hands.”
To see Bénédicte’s latest paintings, visit Saatchi Art >
If you love Bénédicte’s work, you may also like these artists:
What do you think?