New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS): Inspired by classical mythology and surrealistic imagery within the Christian and Jewish cultures, the paintings of veteran French contemporary artist Gerard Garouste are being exhibited in India for the first time.
Titled "Gerard Garouste - The Other Side", the major retrospective exhibition opened here on Tuesday.
The two month-long exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) features around sixty paintings -- most of them large-scale -- that span forty years of his artistic creation from 1980 to 2019.
The show is curated by former French Minister of Culture, Jean-Jacques Aillagon. It is the biggest show of the artist's work outside Europe.
Garouste, who was born in 1946 in France, is a leading figure in French art.
Why does he paint mythology? "I don't believe in history, which comes in a political context, but I believe deeply in the truth that exists in myths. Myths contain a truth that belongs to each one of us. Within a myth, we can share the same thinking," the artist, 73, told IANS during an exhibition tour.
His repertoire includes among its sources of inspiration, myths and legends, religion and folklore. He mostly paints in oil on canvas.
The vast exhibition reveals his sources of inspiration and covers several series: le Classicist and the Apache, les Indiennes, Dante (Divine Comedy), Rabelais (la Dive Bacbuc), Cervantes (Don Quixote), Portraits, Goethe (Faust), Diana and Actaeon, the Bible and the Talmud.
He paints on the themes of desire, knowledge, our relationship to others and time, the origins of our culture, and the question of transmission.
"Made of combinations of ideas, whether disturbing or joyful, his remarkable paintings are inhabited by animals, which are sometimes imaginary, and different characters, who are themselves often hybrid and fantastic," French Culture Minister Franck Riesterwrote about the artist's work.
Garouste has also learnt the classical Hebrew language since the 1980s, as he did not want to have to rely on translations of the Bible, however faithful.
After "painting about all kinds of mythology - Greek, Biblical, Egyptian", Garaouste wants to turn to Indian texts. "I find the complexity of Indian gods fascinating, so maybe one day, I will plunge in Indian mythology," he said.
The exhibition is co-organised by the French and Indian Ministries of Culture, the Institut Français, the NGMA, with the support of private patrons. It runs till March 29.