ᐅ La plage by Philippe Hortala (1986) | Painting

Artwork information

Technique

Acrylic and tempera on canvas

Date

1986

Dimensions

114 cm x 146 cm

Dimensions with frame120 cm x 152 cm

Signature

Signed lower right

State of conservation

Very good

Framing

Yes

Location

Toulouse, France

Description

Philippe Hortala — La plage, 1986

Created in 1986, this major composition by Philippe Hortala perfectly illustrates the singular visual language developed by the artist around narrative figuration and everyday scenes transformed into mental, almost theatrical spaces. Hortala takes a familiar and popular subject and turns it into an ambiguous, layered, and deeply inhabited scene.

At first glance, the painting evokes a summer moment by the seaside: bathers, a terrace, abandoned objects, a parasol, reclining figures beneath a sky crossed by an airplane. Yet the composition quickly reveals something more complex. Perspectives become unstable, bodies appear suspended in space, objects acquire an almost symbolic presence, and the beach itself becomes a psychological landscape where memory, movement, and sensation intertwine.

The intense palette — built around deep blues, vivid reds, acidic greens, and luminous yellows — fully reflects one of Philippe Hortala’s strongest periods. The bold outlines, sharp contrasts, and rigorous spatial construction reinforce the constant tension between narration and abstraction, reality and inner vision.

Executed in acrylic and tempera on canvas, this large-scale work possesses a particularly strong visual presence. Its immersive dimensions heighten the impact of the composition and reveal the richness of the details and internal rhythms running throughout the scene. Signed lower right and dated 1986 on the reverse, the painting comes from a private French collection.

An important figure in the French artistic scene of the second half of the twentieth century, Philippe Hortala developed an immediately recognizable body of work combining influences from narrative figuration, graphic construction, and a highly refined sense of color. His compositions, often permeated by a subtle and silent strangeness, now occupy a distinctive place within the landscape of contemporary French painting.

This work is reproduced in the reference publication Philippe Hortala, published by Lienart Editions and dedicated to the artist’s career and body of work. Widely regarded as one of the principal monographs on Philippe Hortala, the publication retraces the major periods of his artistic production and brings together a significant selection of important works, reflecting the growing interest in his oeuvre among collectors and institutions today.

Provenance

Private collection

Bibliography

Philippe Hortala, edited by Loïc Bodin, Paris, Lienart Editions, 2009, ill.

The artist

Painter

Philippe Hortala

Born in 1960

France

Bio

Philippe Hortala is an artist from Toulouse. This cheerful man loved his native city. After graduating from the Beaux-Arts of Toulouse in 1983, he moved to Barcelona for nine months, where he painted his "Vues de Barcelone" series. In 1986, he opened a joint studio in Blagnac with Clément Thomas, Alain Fabre and Daniel Bonnal.

After his so-called "Punk" years, the artist changed his method and immersed himself in "Les Jours heureux", a series of paintings that stemmed from his vision of the world.

In 1987, he obtained a grant from the Honenberg Foundation and stayed in New York. Two years later, he returned to live in Toulouse and remained there until his death in 1998. At the same time, he often travelled to Naples in Italy until 1991. He painted many views of the city and notably painted the series of "Combat du poulpe et de la langouste".

Between 1992 and 1997, the artist from Toulouse worked on the "Fraisiers et des Potagers" series and also created sculptures on the theme of food, using kitchen utensils. He also represented birds using gardening tools.

Hortala died on October 2, 1998 in his studio in Toulouse, he was found dead by his father-in-law.

Philippe Hortala died while tinkering in his studio in Toulouse on October 2, 1998, his father found him dead. In the little primer of the artist Ben entitled La vérité de A à Z, we discover, between the word "horizon" and "humor", "Hortala", that Ben defines as the "Little King-Kong of Toulouse".