GASPARD DE GOUGES EXHIBITION

Gaspard de Gouges presents his photographic series Imaginary Mediterranean at the Béranger Cultural Center in Frédol.

The exhibition is open from October 2 to 17, 2026, from 9 AM to 12 PM and 2 PM to 6 PM, Monday to Saturday.

At the Béranger Cultural Center in Frédol, Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone (34), a new program is shaping up for the 2026-2027 season. It will kick off with photographer Gaspard de Gouges, who will be featured at the Vues art stand at the Montpellier Contemporary Art Fair.

Gaspard de Gouges: between illusion and Mediterranean poetry

This visual artist composes images, mostly Mediterranean, in trompe-l'œil style.

A few objects, often natural, gathered from the beach or his immediate surroundings, a table covered with a blue-painted oilcloth, a mirror reflecting the sky… are enough for him to set the scene.

A scene that initiates an "invitation to travel," an opening to the imaginary and, let’s not be afraid of words, to poetry.

These often depict coves that evoke exotic lands. In any case, they are seascapes — but not the kind dedicated to the horizon. They are more interested in the cliffs, which resonate with the frame, much like a theater set.

A perfect world… and yet illusory

The format is not that of a landscape: it is square, suggesting perfection or, if you prefer, a perfect, ideal, Edenic world.

The sky is always blue. The clouds only add their temporal touch: a bit of reality, and the passage of time, in a world too perfect to be anything but a tenacious hope, even an obstinate dream.

And at the same time, a world of illusion, for perfection is not of this world.

The square is more pictorial than the rectangle, associated with landscapes. The presence of a ship, sometimes, leaves a doubt: journey or potential threat?

One should rather see it as a reference to the spirit of childhood and its games based on models.

"Genius, the poet said, is only the spirit found at will."

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