Until September 21, Gilbert Portanier's studio-gallery in Vallauris opens its doors to ceramics enthusiasts.

Until September 21, ceramics enthusiasts have the opportunity, at the initiative of the town of Vallauris Golfe-Juan, to visit the studio-gallery where the ceramist Gilbert Portanier lived and worked, at number 82 of the street that bears his name.

In this old factory, which he fell in love with in 1953, a few years after his arrival in Vallauris and where he settled, one can admire the fruit of an extraordinary artistic vision amidst the old stones of the building.

With his wife Annette, who perpetuates his memory and his work, the artist had imagined here a scenography which highlights the thousand and one facets of his talent through a representative selection made from among 10,000 works which he created and some of which are present in the greatest museums in the world.

A universe of shapes and colors

Here is presented to the eyes a universe of forms and colors born from his love of the earth, simple and ancestral forms modulated by his hands and his imagination, which he transcended throughout his life in an accomplished balance between form, volume, graphics and color which constituted for him the four essential components of an accomplished work.

Inside the old wood-fired oven, we discover his porcelain figures, which he imagined inspired by the theatre of life.

In a dark room from which emerges, thanks to the magic of a selective light which floods the creations, the strength of his sculptures, here are also his famous flat shields and cups which he had the idea of ​​turning upside down to make them the support of his creativity, creations which are his signature exhibited in another section of the workshop.

Make the color vibrate

In a small room, his etchings bear witness to his profound reflections on art. Throughout the visit, the ceramic paintings recall his encounters with Picasso and Gilbert Portanier's vital need to make color vibrate beyond form.

His large canvases exhibited in the gallery entrance symbolize the master's moving return to his first love: painting.

We must not miss experiencing or reliving this surge of life, this beneficial energy, a message of love, passion and creativity that one of the most formidable ceramic creators of our time offers us in this place blessed by the artistic gods.

Learn more Gilbert-Portanier Workshop-Gallery, 82 rue Portanier in Vallauris. Open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.