Born in 1960 in Brittany, Hervé Lenouvel spent his childhood in the countryside, near the forest of Brocéliande. Coming from a rural background, he became interested in drawing, then in painting at a very early age and established a very close, almost spiritual relationship with nature, which has remained his main source of inspiration since then.

Self-taught, Hervé devoured books on different techniques and tried several types of painting such as watercolour and gouache before finally settling on oil paint, whose viscosity offered him a sensuality that he would not find in any other medium.

Back in his studio, he works the material in the freshness, quickly, retaining only the essential because his painting is a game where you have to observe, memorize in order to retain only the essential and thus translate the emotion received and the state of mind of the moment. “I learned to paint like a craftsman learns to do his job, but painting is not just about technique, you have to go beyond technique, you have to put yourself into it, learn to know yourself, put your personality on the canvas, it’s actually the most interesting part of the job.” The natural elements, trees, water, sky, earth are improvised as the painting takes shape, with the concern to leave enough room for the imagination.