LADDERS
DRAWING
GARDENS
where silences can speak
NO PAIN
THE OTHER SIDE
Born in Paris in 1953, Francis Berthault discovered painting in an hospital, a formative experience that led him to enroll at the Beaux-Arts de Paris and subsequently pursue studies at the Sorbonne.
His artistic practice blends painting, collage, drawing, and ink in an approach where narrative, dreams, and color play a central role. By repurposing paper fragments imbued with memory, he constructs a universe of apparent naivety, steeped in nostalgia and poetry.
From 2013 onwards, he also developed a series of large-scale ladders—fragile and irregular—installed in natural settings. These works explore concepts of elevation, transition, and precarity.
In 2019, his work underwent a major shift with the Silent series. Inspired by the serenity of Fayum portraits, this series juxtaposes the silent beauty of faces with the violence of sexual assault, creating a tension between apparent gentleness and traumatic reality. This evolution marked a decisive turning point in his body of work, which is now shaped by themes of memory, resilience, and denunciation.