VIRTUAL EXHIBITION
KÁNDL
THE FABLES OF LA FONTAINE
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Discover Lukáš KÁNDL
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For this second exhibition since its opening on March 12, 2022, the GRATALOUP museum presents the painter Lukáš KÁNDL, French artist born in Prague in 1944, through a strange, magical, surreal and fantastic interpretation, essential characteristics of his pictorial expression.
"I have always admired great artists and found it natural to pay homage to them. Jean de La Fontaine, whose 400th birthday we celebrated on July 8, 2021, left us, with his fables, a whole teaching, still relevant today. I thought it was an opportunity to rediscover it for current generations."
Watch the sound and light show
Lukáš KÁNDL was born in Prague on November 29, 1944, into a family of intellectuals—his father was a well-known architect and caricaturist, while his mother worked at a publishing house for children's books. As a child, he enjoyed leafing through art books, particularly those featuring female nudes by the greatest artists like Rembrandt, Botticelli, Goya, Cranach, and Ingres. This influence can still be seen in his painting today.
At 15, he entered a specialized art school, the Výtvarná škola, which prepared students thoroughly for higher art studies. He continued his artistic education at the Fine Arts Academy, where he began a free and personal creation in his third year, blending surrealism and fantasy.
In 1965, during his first trip to France, he met Françoise, who would become his wife in 1967. After the events of May 1968, in which he actively participated, he returned to Czechoslovakia to complete his studies. Graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1969, he returned to France and settled in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, obtaining French nationality in 1975.
A leading figure in the Magical Realism movement in France, he founded the group "Libellule, Renaissance Contemporaine" in 2004, which brings together the best international painters of Magical Realism around a shared set of values: openness, sharing, teamwork, quality, and technical virtuosity in the craft.
Lukáš KÁNDL imposes an annual theme and specific formats for the group's members, presenting a new collection each year at the Salon Comparaisons, held annually at the Grand Palais in Paris. Today, the Libellule group includes around thirty painters from twenty countries across three different continents, offering the public access to an exceptional portfolio of the best contemporary Magical Realism paintings from around the world.
Click on the displayed works to access the podcasts
LE LOUP ET L'AGNEAU
Huile sur toile
65 cm x 81 cm
Click on the photo to enlarge it
La raison
Du plus fort
Est toujours
La meilleure.
LA FABLE
Un loup affamé, accusa un agneau de troubler son breuvage. Malgré la réthorique de l’agneau, le loup l’emporta, puis le mangea.
LE CONTEXTE
La Fontaine fait ici référence à l’hégémonie du pouvoir en général, et en particulier à la puissance du Roi sur ses sujets, sous la monarchie absolue de Louis XIV.
LE REGARD DE KÁNDL
Dans mes tableaux, les pensées parallèles sont souvent représentées par des sphères ou des bulles. Ici, pour le loup, « je vais te manger » et pour l’agneau, « la perle d’espoir ».