THIERRY HARPES: La vie en bleu

"The play of forms is the poetry of appearance: It resembles a dance that begins in the eye and continues in the heart."
Élie During (French philosopher and art theorist)

In collaboration with the Scheytt Galerie, Galerie Sophie Vandré invites you to the exhibition "La vie en bleu," featuring paintings and drawings by the Luxembourgish artist Thierry Harpes. A graduate of the Berlin University of the Arts and a former *Meisterschüler* (master student), Harpes presents in this exhibition a selection of paintings and drawings that offers insight into his artistic output to date (2012–2025) and his characteristic visual language.

Through clear lines, bold planes of color, and playful symbols, Harpes creates a visual poetry that feels simultaneously spontaneous and thoughtfully conceived. The title "La vie en bleu" alludes to the poetic interplay between melancholy and optimism—between dream and reality. Blue, the dominant color, serves as a unifying thread running through the works: a melancholic undertone that simultaneously heightens both the *joie de vivre* and the intense color contrasts. In many of his paintings, Harpes employs complementary color combinations—featuring pink, yellow, red, and orange—that captivate the eye and celebrate the lightness of the moment.

The works feature abstract and organic forms that, in some instances, evoke motifs such as clouds, leaves, or flowers, while in others, they resemble signs and symbols imbued with a narrative—almost enigmatic—quality. In several pieces, figures emerge only faintly, oscillating between abstraction and figuration. Harpes’s visual language is grounded in a playful spirit of experimentation: lines and planes dance, overlap, and contrast, while seemingly random brushstrokes generate a sense of dynamism and movement. The miniature works—presented here in a series for the first time—resemble small episodes or narrative fragments that, when assembled, form a larger, colorful story about life and its many moods. Each piece is a self-contained image, yet remains connected to the others through shared color palettes and recurring forms.

Thus, *La vie en bleu* evolves into a visual dialogue in which tranquility and vibrancy, order and spontaneity, and proximity and distance engage in a mutual interplay.

GALERIE SOPHIE VANDRÉ was founded in Munich in 2021 with the aim of promoting contemporary artists and designers who engage with their lived environments in original and refreshing ways. As a gallery, we regularly host solo and group exhibitions in both Munich and Berlin, and facilitate the acquisition of original artworks.