Conference "Techniques, demands and passion, a professional life in the service of art" in Senlis

Michel Formentin is an artist from Senlis. Born into a family of artists, he was introduced to painting by his father. Initially a decorative painter, he gradually adopted a number of techniques, both to meet the demands of his customers and out of passion. Called upon to teach in schools of applied arts, he combines practical demands with artistic taste. Over the course of his career, he has developed a liking for pastels, washes, oil and watercolour paints for landscapes taken from the motif, and has sought out the techniques of the old masters, glazing, wiping, blending, "sfumato" with his finger, gilding with leaves, tempera icons and tempera for a pictorial study of the masters of yesteryear. A figurative painter of modern expression, he plays with light and colour. He exhibited for the first time in Baden-Baden in Germany during his military service in 1958, where he won an award. He hasn't stopped since. He exalts the landscapes of the places he visits or lives, in Provence, Brittany, the Bay of the Somme and Senlis.