Lavoir Vasserot exhibition - Paintings and drawings by Jean-François Carle

For Jean-François Carle, painting is like playing, returning to the gesture of a child.

On paper or canvas, he interacts with the different media at his disposal (oil, acrylic, ink...), summoning up colors, their seductive power, their meaning, their depth. He likes to work with images inspired by landscape-faces, the Air/Earth/Water/Fire mantra, the region where he lives (Provence) and Africa, where he lived for many years. Over the years, his sensitivity has developed into a truly original technique (fragments of marouflaged paper that swirl around the surface of the canvas). What the artist is looking for is to discover an original image that emerges from her own imagination and resonates perfectly with the sensibility of the viewers who discover her works.
Showing his paintings is an opportunity to verify how much our souls are twins when it comes to surrendering to contemplation. It's a game, it's a fabulous quest, and if the painting succeeds in capturing the mystery, if it finally finds its right balance between breath and silence, then we could say that the trick is done!


If Jean-François Carle has chosen to dedicate himself to painting, it's because he has earned the privilege of exploring, in complete freedom, an unlimited creative medium that allows him to get to know himself better, while at the same time connecting with others, those who discover his work in Saint-Tropez or elsewhere.

A self-taught painter born in 1957, Jean-François Carle became an artist after working as an export executive, a humanitarian program manager in Africa and then as an art teacher in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. His first exhibition took place at the Centre Culturel Franco-Rwandais in Kigali in 1990. Time has passed and his style has asserted itself, which he puts at the service of an ever-awakening inspiration. His masters are Gauguin, Matisse and Picasso, but he also admires his contemporaries Peter Doig, Claire Tabouret...

It's been said that his painting is poetic? He assumes it is, because he likes to take his adventure off the beaten track and away from any clique. Painting offers him the childlike joy of creation without blinkers.
His exacting standards mean that he is constantly refining his paintings, searching for the right combination of shapes, materials and colors. Because it's all about going the extra mile, so that the finished image is rich enough to last, at once seductive and disturbing, serene and dynamic, in balance between different polarities.

Beyond concepts, speeches and criticisms, paintings live their lives, and that's why we invite you to come and discover this most remarkable and original universe.

Resident in La Garde-Freinet, where his studio and gallery are located, Jean-François Carle is pleased to take over the Lavoir Vasserot every summer, providing the perfect setting to showcase his most recent works.
Jean-François Carle is the nephew of Odile Savajols-Carle, a former painter from Marseille. He has exhibited in Denmark, Great Britain, Belgium and Germany. He is represented in numerous private collections.

His work can be seen on his Instagram account jfcarle.

From Thursday 17 to Wednesday 23 July 2025.
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Free entry.