FRANCINE VAN HOVE

The work of Francine Van Hove allegorizes the everyday life: the instant becomes definitive and the meaning of anecdotal grows a little. She stages young women in closed interiors; a kind of “home” which would be so enclosed that the probability of entering would be non-existent. In a safe place, unconscious or unconcerned by their own beauty, they let themselves go to laziness or devote themselves to immobile pleasures: reading, having tea, being immersed in reflection. Moments extracted from the passage of time, recalled here by a still-life, there by the endless questioning of a mirror.

Her paintings bring a sensation of wonder, released by the precision of play of light, by the rendering of material and the richness of details. Bodies, skillfully modelled, impose a dreamy harmony by the perfection of their confident gestures. Undoubtedly, the resonance of Van Hove’s works comes from far away: the Greek statuary, the Italian Renaissance, the Flemish painting, everywhere the presence of Graces blow the intuition of happiness here below.

Under an apparent simplicity, her work keeps a kind of mystery. These young girls, sometimes pensive sometimes melancholic, forbid us the access to their interiority. And, like in Vermeer’s works, the painting stays in a way elusive.

Born in 1942 in Paris, Francine Van Hove taught drawing for some time before devoting herself to painting. Her representation of femininity stands out for their sensitive rendering. Since the 1980s, she has exhibited at Alain Blondel gallery every two years and has participated in numerous contemporary art fairs in Europe and North America.