Collection: Jean-Marc Calvet

Jean-Marc Calvet (born in Nice in 1965) is one of the most singular self-taught painters in contemporary art. Galerie Bonnet-Abelin, which has devoted two solo exhibitions to him in Lyon, presents a selection of his canvases below.

A life, a rupture, a rebirth

Before painting, Calvet lived several lives — the Nice night scene, security work, flight. In 2001, secluded in a house in Nicaragua at the end of an existential crisis he has often recounted, painting literally erupted: with no training and no references, he covered walls and then canvases with a universe that belongs to him alone. This extraordinary story became the subject of Dominic Allan's award-winning, internationally screened documentary “Calvet” (2011), which revealed the artist to the wider public.

A teeming world

His painting is instantly recognisable: saturated compositions in which each figure contains a thousand others, electric colours, an obsessive energy reminiscent of art brut while building a personal mythology — memory, guilt, rebirth, joyful exorcism. Each canvas is read at two distances: from afar, a figure; up close, a world. Collected in Europe and the Americas, Calvet occupies a place apart, between outsider art and contemporary figuration.

Calvet and Galerie Bonnet-Abelin

The gallery has devoted two solo exhibitions to the artist in Lyon, in spring 2024 and summer 2025, confirming an ongoing working relationship. The canvases presented below — including “La Fosse” and “Le 2ᵉ Sceau” — attest to the density of his universe.

Acquiring a work by Jean-Marc Calvet

The works can be viewed at the gallery, 36 avenue Foch, Lyon 6ᵉ, by appointment. Each work comes with a certificate of authenticity. The gallery, currently preparing its Geneva location, also assists Swiss and international collectors. Prices and documentation on request: contact@galeriebonnetabelin.com. Leasing solutions for companies.