Skip to main content

Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

French, 1935-2024

Benjamin Vautier was born in 1935, in Naples, Italy, to a French family. He was the great-grandson of the Swiss painter Marc Louis Benjamin Vautier (1829–98). He discovered Yves Klein and the Nouveau Réalisme in the 1950s, but he quickly became interested in the French Dada artist Marcel Duchamp and the music of John Cage. 

In 1959, Vautier founded the journal Ben Dieu. In 1960, he had his first one-man show, Rien et tout in Laboratoire 32.

Vautier joined George Maciunas in the Fluxus artistic movement, in October 1962. He was also active in Mail-Art and was mostly known for his text-based paintings or écritures, which began in 1953, with his work Il faut manger. Il faut dormir. Another example of the latter is L'art est inutile. Rentrez chez vous (Art is Useless, Go Home). A notable work made for Harald Szeemann's Documenta 5 exhibition in 1972 shouts, “KUNST IST ÜBERFLÜSSIG” (English: "Art is Superfluous"), and was installed across the top of the Fridericianum museum in Kassel, Germany. 

Vautier long defended the rights of minorities in all countries and was influenced by the theories of François Fontan about ethnism. For example, he defended the Occitan language (southern France). In 1981, he coined the name of the French art movement of the 1980s Figuration Libre (Free Figuration).

Find Benjamin Vautier art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Gallery 55 TLV)

to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
510
284
281
230
1
1
Artist: Ben Vautier
Au bout des yeux
Au bout des yeux

Au bout des yeux

By Ben Vautier

Located in PARIS, FR

Acrylic on canvas original painting 40 x 70 cm (Encadrée) 38 x 61 cm 15.75 x 27.56 in

Category

1990s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Related Items
Italian landscape with bathers
Italian landscape with bathers

Italian landscape with bathers

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

Félix-Hippolyte LANOÜE (Versailles, 1812 – Versailles, 1872) Italian Landscape with Bathers Oil on canvas, in its original frame D. 41 cm Signed lower right Circa 1840 Trained by Je...

Category

1840s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The circus
The circus

PINKHASThe circus, 2023

$600

H 19.69 in W 15.75 in D 1.97 in

The circus

By PINKHAS

Located in Tel Aviv - Jaffa, IL

Original 3D mixed media Unique piece Hand signed Certificate of authenticity from the artist Mint condition

Category

2010s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Plastic, Wood, Varnish, Acrylic

Eros and Psyche
Eros and Psyche

Maurice SiodeauEros and Psyche, 1943

$17,971

H 57.49 in W 44.89 in

Eros and Psyche

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

Maurice SIODEAU (Cholet 1916 – Paris 1944) "By lightly touching her with his arrow, Eros revives the sleeping Psyche" Oil on canvas H. 146 cm; W. 114 cm (Prix de Rome format) Signed ...

Category

1940s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Child mutual instruction
Child mutual instruction

Child mutual instruction

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

Hippolyte-Dominique HOLFELD (Paris, 1804 - Paris, 1872) Mutual Instruction Oil on canvas H. 65 cm; W. 82 cm Signed and dated lower left 1852 Exhibition : Paris Salon of 1852, no. 64...

Category

1850s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

View of Caillac in Lot department
View of Caillac in Lot department

View of Caillac in Lot department

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

Joseph LÉPINE (Rochefort 1867 – Paris 1943) The Church of Caillac - Lot Oil on cardboard H. 33 cm; W. 41 cm Signed lower left Joseph Lépine quickly moved to Bordeaux, where he studied under Louis-Alexandre Cabié, a well-known landscape painter in the region and teacher of many early 20th-century artists. Despite the master's warnings, he sought to confront the Parisian modernity of the late 19th century and discover Impressionist and even early Post-Impressionist styles. There, he became a student of the neoclassical painters Courtois and Girardot, both former students of the great Jean-Léon Gérôme. In 1897, he exhibited at the Salon, where he sent landscapes of Provence. He became a member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in 1905, the same year that the Fauves Matisse, Derain, and Vlaminck participated in and became known at the Salon d'Automne. A purchase by the French government of the 1908 Salon des Indépendants, "Vieille boutique," now housed at the Menton Museum, officially launched his career. He exhibited that year in London at the Royal Albert Hall, at the invitation of the Allied Artists' Association, demonstrating the painter's distinguished status within the international art scene. In Paris, the artist met several well-known painters of the time in the Montmartre and Montparnasse neighborhoods, including Matisse and Signac. His painting is based in particular on his approach to material, light, and color, whose juxtapositions present a play of saturation and composition based on apparent reserves. After the First World War, Lépine returned more to his home region, where he painted landscapes around Bordeaux and up the Dordogne River to the charming landscapes of the lower Corrèze. He painted Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, Argentat, and also the Lot region, with the built-up escarpments of Saint Circq Lapopie. The city of Bordeaux and the French government acquired two of his works, representing a landscape near Verdelais and a view of the Saint-Michel Church in Bordeaux, in 1939 and 1941. Considered today a very important figure in Bordeaux painting...

Category

1920s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Rochs on the sea at Ploumanac'h in Côtes d'Armor Brittany - France
Rochs on the sea at Ploumanac'h in Côtes d'Armor Brittany - France

Rochs on the sea at Ploumanac'h in Côtes d'Armor Brittany - France

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

Léon Pierre FÉLIX (Périgueux 1869 - 1940) The coast at Ploumanac'h - Bretagne Oil on canvas H. 46 cm; L. 55 cm Signed lower left, dated 1901 Provenance: Private collection, Burgundy...

Category

1930s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Le Lavandou in Mediterranean Sea
Le Lavandou in Mediterranean Sea

Le Lavandou in Mediterranean Sea

By Didier LAPÈNE

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

A former student of the Ecole nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Didier Lapène completed this renowned training by benefiting from an important stay at the Casa Velázquez in Madrid. ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Marchand de ballons - Poetry - Circus - Chagall's spirit - Unique piece
Marchand de ballons - Poetry - Circus - Chagall's spirit - Unique piece

Marchand de ballons - Poetry - Circus - Chagall's spirit - Unique piece

By PINKHAS

Located in Tel Aviv - Jaffa, IL

Mixed media on panel Hand signed Unique piece Mint condition

Category

2010s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Varnish, Mixed Media, Acrylic

Pen Hat beach at evening - Brittany
Pen Hat beach at evening - Brittany

Pen Hat beach at evening - Brittany

By Didier LAPÈNE

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

A former student of the Ecole nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Didier Lapène completed this renowned training by benefiting from an important stay at the Casa Velázquez in Madrid. ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large river edge with birds in France
Large river edge with birds in France

Large river edge with birds in France

By Edmond Yon

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

Edmond YON (Montmartre 1841 – Paris 1897) Riverbank with birds Oil on canvas H. 79.5 cm; L. 130 cm Signed lower right and dated 1876 Original frame Exhibition: 1876, Salon des Artis...

Category

1870s French School Ben Vautier Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Ben Vautier figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Ben Vautier figurative paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ben Vautier in acrylic paint, paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Not every interior allows for large Ben Vautier figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 25 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Giovanni Santaniello, and Angelo Granati. Ben Vautier figurative paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $18,688 and tops out at $18,688, while the average work can sell for $18,688.