Terrible memory and vivid imagination, 2024
Jeanne Mons
Jeanne Mons is an up and coming French painter whose work explores a growing difficulty of forming authentic connections with others, as well as the erosion of the relationship between humanity and nature.
Her paintings probe a deepening solitude, intensified by technological progress and the rural exodus that has drained the countryside of its social fabric in favour of anonymous megacities.
Her œuvre aligns with a collective desire for refuge in fiction and the realm of dreams, an instinctive response to the uncertainty of our shared future, the fragility of our political systems, and the illusion of “progress.” It echoes the early days of Symbolism, a movement born partly as a reaction against the Industrial Revolution.
By moving away from reality, Mons addresses the pervasive frustration and anxiety felt by her generation.Rejecting repetitive, easily recognisable series, she maintains a vibrant body of work in which each piece deliberately breaks with the one before it.
Mons was born in 2001 in Saint-Cloud. She lives and works in the Paris region. A graduate of the painting studio at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels (2023), she presented her first solo exhibition, Amour, vous ne savez ce qu’est l’absence, that same year at Galerie Nosbaum Reding Projects in Luxembourg.
"Jeanne's work took me aback when I opened her submission. Her painting, The Keys of Return, practically played out like a scene: with the two fixed panels resembling separate stills from a Wes Anderson film, or a long-lost memory flashing before my eyes.
This was before I had the chance to look at the rest of Mons' oeuvre (a word I'm open to admitting I didn't realise had anything to do with art), which revealed her extraordinary talent for storytelling. Each painting has an expertly curated colour palette which looks as though it has been extracted from a fairytale pop-up book, which poignantly contrasts with the serious undertones of each work's narrative."
Mons' work will be exhibited in London until December 1st. If you are interested in collecting The Keys of Return, it is available for direct acquisition below. Mons' complete portfolio can be found on her website.
