Yves Brayer

Spanish Steps

1970ca

Yves Brayer stands among the most celebrated modern French painters. Although Brayer was faithful to the figurative tradition, his ample métier was enriched by his vision. Brayer’s oeuvre proved to be very diverse, for besides his well-known landscapes, he also painted vast canvases, portraits and still lifes. A lover of Mediterranean landscapes, Brayer sojourned in Morocco, Spain and Italy before settling down in Provence. There, Brayer was enchanted by the diverse and architectural forms of the Alpilles mountains and by the vast expanse of the Camargue region with its ubiquitous white horses and black bulls. From then on, Brayer spent several months each year working in Provence. Brayer also traveled internationally, where he was quick to grasp the unique rhythm and light of each country. When Brayer was in Paris in 1942, Jacques Rouché appointed Brayer costume-and-set designer for a ballet at the Opera de Paris. Brayer passed away in Paris in 1990. A large collection of his paintings are on permanent display both at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Cordes, France and at the Musée Yves Brayer in Les Baux de Provence, as well as many regional museums in his home country. In the United States, Brayer's works form part of the collection of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, among others.