Artist Main
Presentation

Born in 1945 in Rivière-Salée (Martinique), France.

Lives and works in Fort-de-France (Martinique), France.


Présentation


Already seeking a broader form of contemporary expression and rejecting any constraints of representation, Ernest Breleur left the fwomagé group in 1989, a group of artists that had left its mark on the artistic scene in Martinique.

In 1992, he definitively broke with painting, convinced he had exhausted its possibilities. He would now work with a new “available material”: X-rays. This medium would allow him to explore aesthetic and ethical questions in relation to the violence of globalization.

Very close to certain writers who were instrumental in the development of his work, Ernest Breleur draws inspiration from the thought of Milan Kundera, Édouard Glissant, and Patrick Chamoiseau on major issues related to the fragility of being, eroticism, plural identity, and the poetic power of the work.


Public collections (selection)


Fond National d’Art Contemporain, France

FRAC Martinique, France

Palais du gouvernement, Nouméa, New Caledonia

World Bank Washington, Washington D.C., USA

Conseil Régional de la Martinique, France

Contemporary Museum of Art of Sainto Domingo, Dominican Republic

Fondation Clément, Le François (Martinique), France

Fondation Foudre Édouard Glissant, Paris, France

Selected Artworks
Sans titre
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2010
50.0 x 50.0 cm / 19.7 x 19.7 in
Sans titre
Sans titre
2021
207.0 x 164.5 cm / 81.5 x 64.8 in
Sans titre
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2014
125.0 x 125.0 cm / 49.2 x 49.2 in
Sans titre
Sans titre
2013
75.0 x 110.0 cm / 29.5 x 43.3 in
Sans titre
Sans titre
2013
75.0 x 110.0 cm / 29.5 x 43.3 in
Exhibitions In Our Galleries
All Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions


2026

La fragilidad de un corazòn de cristal, Museum of Modern Art of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic


2022–2023

Mytologie de la lune. 1989 - 2022, Maëlle Gallery, Romainville/Paris, France


2020

Big Bang Boom! A Cosmic Poetry, Maëlle Gallery, Romainville/Paris, France


2016

Le vivant, passage par le féminin, Fondation Clément, Martinique, France


2015

L'énigme du désir, Maëlle Gallery, Paris, France


2013

Le vivant, de questions en questions, Maëlle Gallery, Paris, France


2012

Dessins de transition, T&T Gallery, Guadeloupe, France


2010

Portraits sans visage, Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris, France


2006

Retrospective, Habitation Clément, Martinique, France

Reconstitution, André Arsene Gallery, CMAC National Stage, L'Atrium, Martinique, France


1993

Série blanche, Strasbourg, France


1990

Radiographie de portes, Fort-de-France, Martinique

Los contactos de hombre, Mayz Lyon Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela


1989

Mythologie de la lune, Martinique, France



Selected group exhibitions


2025

Paris Noir, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France


2018

Dakar Biennale Off at the Dapper Museum, Gorée Island, Senegal

CARIFESTA, Barbados


2015

God's Creatures, Maëlle Gallery, Paris, France


2012

Caribbean: Crossroads of the World, Queens Museum, New York, USA

Global Caraïbe, Little Haiti Cultural Center, Miami, USA


2011

Escaut : Rives dérives, International Contemporary Sculpture Festival, Escaut Valley, France/Belgium


2009

Kreyol Factory, Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France


2004

Autumn Salon, Paris, France

Diaspo Art, Cotonou, Benin


2003

Havana Biennial, Cuba

Latitude, Paris, France


2001

M2A2 Museum Collection, House of Latin America, Paris, France

M2A2 Museum Collection, Haiti


2000

Mastering the millennium art of the America, Washington, D.C., USA


1998

24th São Paulo Biennial, Brazil

6th Seychelles Biennial

Carib y Fragmentation, Maïac Museum of Contemporary Art, Alicante, Spain


1995

Espace des Arts, Chalon-sur-Saône, France

International Photography Encounters, Arles, France


1994

National Black Art Festival, Gallery Nexus, Atlanta, USA

Santo Domingo Biennial, Dominican Republic

22nd São Paulo Biennial, Brazil

Ecuador Biennial

Havana Biennial, Cuba


1993

Carib Art, Curaçao


1992

First Santo Domingo Biennial, Dominican Republic

Regard sur la Caraïbe, Espace Carpeaux, travelling exhibition, France

University Center Gallery, Howard University, Washington, D.C., USA

First Dakar Biennial, Senegal


1988

Group Exhibition, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Quebec International Biennial, Canada

Tribute to Aimé Césaire, International Exhibition, Martinique


1986

Cultural Festival of the City of Fort-de-France, Martinique, France

2nd Havana Biennial, Cuba


1985

Inter-Caribbean Meeting, French Guiana, France

Bibliography

2009

Corps Communs, Alexandre Alaric, HC Éditions / Hervé Chopin


2008

Ernest Breleur, Dominique Berthet, Jacques Leenhardt, HC Éditions / Hervé Chopin


2006

Les corps énigmatiques d’Ernest Breleur, Dominique Berthet, L’Harmattan Editions

La blanche comme instant et instance de beauté, Patrick Chamoiseau

Méditation auprès d'Ernest Breleur, Patrick Chamoiseau

A Look at the Work of Ernest Breleur, DEA Master's Thesis, Cynthia Phibel


2004

L'Afrique rêvée d'Ernest Breleur artiste martiniquais et de Raymond Roussel écrivain, Eliane Chiron


2003

L'au-delà du visible dans l'oeuvre d'Ernest Breleur, Dominique Berthet, International Journal of Visual Semiotics, Canada

La traversée des corps, Elisabeth Berthet, exhibition catalogue and Recherches en Esthétique No. 9, Errances


2000

De l'irrigation à l'oeuvre. La présence-absence du corps, Dominique Berthet, Les traces et l'art en question, L’Harmattan


1998

La reconstitution symbolique de l'être, Yolanda Wood

Le Phénomène antique du voir, Giovanni Joppolo

L'expérience de l'univers, interview by Dominique Berthet and Serge Goudin Thébia, Recherches en Esthétique No. 4, Traces


1997

Il faut que l'art surprenne, qu'il soit imprévisible, interview by Dominique Berthet, Recherches en Esthétique No. 3, La critique


1996

Suture du corps, suture du monde, interview by Dominique Berthet, Recherches en Esthétique No. 2, Appropriation


1995

D’en bas tu humeras des roses, Milan Kundera, illustrations by Ernest Breleur, La Nuée Bleue Editions


1993

Ernest Breleur ou la destruction des icônes, Roger Toumson


1990

Une Poétique de la Chair, Alexandre Alaric