Alain Le Chatelier: Nature

"I paint what I see around me," explains Alain Le Chatelier, whose latest collection was unveiled on Friday, February 6, at Les Artisans jewelry store on Rue Général de Gaulle in Gustavia.

Over the past year, he has drawn inspiration from the natural landscapes he admires in Guadeloupe and Saint Barthélemy, with his usual bold use of color and refined technique. Two main themes define this collection: water and traditional architecture. Although he claims to paint what he sees, his vision of the world is that of an artist who slightly tilts each element, so that what you see is his artistic version of what he has actually observed. A blend of reality and imagination that comes to life on canvas.

When it comes to water, Alain Le Chatelier is primarily interested in the many rivers of Guadeloupe. He has captured the water flowing through wooded areas with an intriguing palette of myriad shades of green and blue, as well as warmer oranges and yellows in the vegetation, and even orange butterflies fluttering in the sunlight. Water is also present in the beach scenes inspired by Saint Barthélemy, with its seductive blue waves, golden sand, corals, and sailboat, while nature in all its splendor embraces a magnificent traveler's palm (traveler's tree) and a hillside scene dominated by cacti and "lolo woods," both endemic to Saint Barthélemy.

Traditional architecture is the second theme explored by the artist this year, from a typical Creole house in the Valombreuse botanical garden in Guadeloupe, with its red roof peeking through the foliage, to the charming Anglican church in Gustavia, set against a bright orange sky, to a small cottage in Saint Barth at the foot of another large traveler palm tree, whose interior is bathed in welcoming light.

A small house in Saint Barthélemy reflected in the water in front of it, perhaps inspired by the small cottages in Saline near the salt marshes, brings together the themes of water and architecture dear to the artist, who successfully navigates between nature and tradition in this new collection; paintings that immerse the viewer in the world of Alain Le Chatelier and the beauty that emanates from his brush.

Alain Le Chatelier
Les Artisans, 8 rue Général de Gaulle, Gustavia