Biography
& career
Having arrived in France in 1962, André Nadal first turned to interior architecture before devoting himself entirely to painting in 1982. This page traces his career: training, approach, exhibitions and recognition.
The artist
A silent search, put to the test of light.
André Nadal’s work belongs to the lineage of optical art and geometric abstraction . For more than four decades, he has pursued a coherent, almost monastic exploration of colour, rhythm and perception.
Each canvas is the result of a long protocol: choosing the grid, preparing the colour planes, applying the oil paint with control. The hand remains essential – a refusal of mechanisation, an assumed slowness, the search for a pulse proper to the human eye.
The works are conceived as fields of tension: a discreet gesture is enough to make the surface vibrate. It is in this modesty that the singularity of his approach resides.
Approach
Three axes structure a studio practice pursued with constancy.
Geometry
The weave, the network, the grid: so many structures that organise the pictorial surface. Geometry is not a subject; it is a rigorous framework within which colour can unfold freely. This tension between rigour and freedom lies at the heart of the work.
Light
Each canvas is conceived as a light trap. Variations in saturation, the play of complementary colours, subtle modulations of matter produce effects of vibration that the eye discovers slowly. The painting is never fixed: it goes on acting with time and according to the light.
Repetition
Taking up a motif again, testing it in different formats, varying it without repeating it – this is what distinguishes serial work from a mere system. Each work extends the previous one while setting itself apart. Coherence is built over time.
Studio
The gesture,
the material, the tool.
A few images from the studio – the paint being prepared, the hand tracing, the eye scrutinising the canvas. A patient body of work, where every line is laid by hand, without second thoughts.
«
I do not paint light, I let it happen. My work consists in preparing the surface so that it can receive it and make it visible.
40+
Years of practice
8
Solo exhibitions
5
Permanent galleries
1
Published monograph
Milestones
Career
Chronological landmarks of a career built over time – initial training, studio years, exhibitions and publications punctuate a path marked by coherence.
01
Training
1968 – 1972
School of Fine Arts
Studies in painting and printmaking; first contact with the currents of optical art and European geometric abstraction.
France
1972 – 1975
First studios
Personal research on colour and the grid. Building a formal vocabulary of his own, away from the fashions of the moment.
02
Solo exhibitions
2024
Vibratory fields
Galerie Bel Aven – recent works, medium and large formats.
Pont-Aven, France
2021
Silent grids
A retrospective of ten years of work, presented in a partner gallery.
Paris, France
2017
Slow colour
Solo exhibition in partnership with Alba Galerie.
France
2012
Surface geometries
First international exhibition, accompanied by a catalogue.
Brussels, Belgium
03
Fairs & group shows
2023 – 2025
Art Paris, Art Karlsruhe, Art Shanghai
Regular presence at European and Asian fairs through partner galleries.
Europe, Asia
2019
Contemporary abstractions
Group exhibition on today’s geometric painting.
Lyon, France
04
Publications
2022
Monograph “Nadal”
A 100-page book bringing together the painted work, critical texts and an interview with the artist. Available on request.
Limited edition
2018
Catalogue “Slow colour”
Exhibition catalogue co-published with a partner gallery.
05
Collections
–
Private collections
Works held in private collections in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and Asia.
Discover the work
Talking about
the work
For a studio visit, the acquisition of a work, a request for the monograph or an exhibition project – Alba Galerie supports every enquiry.