BIOGRAPHY
Ernest Pignon-Ernest is a French visual artist born on November 8, 1942, in Nice.
He is considered one of the pioneers of urban art in France. His powerful drawings, with their sweeping lines, bring traces of history to the surface. His works are created using charcoal, black chalk, and erasers of various thicknesses to shape the shadows, and are most often reproduced as silkscreen prints on lightweight paper.
His life-size, realistic works emphasize the sense of reality to evoke the figures depicted, yet—due to their black-and-white nature and the fragility of the paper—they maintain a fictional distance from the viewer.
EXHIBITIONS
2026
- The gallery celebrates its 40th anniversary. Carte blanche to Pierre Wat, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
- Ernest’s Spring, Maison Ladevèze, Cordes-sur-Ciel, France
- Shadows of Naples, L’Inguimbertine at the Hôtel-Dieu, Carpentras, France
- Carte blanche for Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Musée Ziem, Martigues, France
2024
- Je est un autre, Louis Vuitton Venezia Space, Venice, Italy
2020
- Extases. Les mystiques, Eglise des célestins, Avignon, France
2019
- Ecce Homo, main chapel of the Palais des Papes, Avignon, France
- Empreintes, "Le Botanique" Cultural center of the Wallonie-Bruxelles federation, Bruxelles, Belgique
2017
- Ceux de la poésie vécue, Espace Jacques Villeglé, Saint-Gratien, France
2016-2017
- Rétrospective, Musée d'Art Moderne et Art Contemporain, Nice, France
- Du mur au livre. De l'éphémère à l'éternité, Louis Nucéra library, Nice, France
2016
- Extases, Saint-Pons' church, Nice, France
2014
- Prisons, Galerie Lelong, Paris, France
- Maison des Arts, Malakoff, France
- Regards sur les prisons de Lyon, Galerie Fait et Cause, Paris, France
- Extases, Saint-Louis' chapel, Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
- Espace Paul Rebeyrolle, Eymoutiers, France
- Ernest Pignon-Ernest et les caravagesques, Musée de Vire, Vire-Normandie, France
- Galerie Lelong, Drawing Now, Carreau du Temple, Paris, France
- Ernest Pignon Ernest photographe, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès with the MEP, Paris, France
2013
- Traits de Génie, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France
- Extases, Prieuré de Saint-Cosme, La Riche, France
- Au-delà du street-art, Galerie du messager, Musée de La Poste, Paris, France
- Extases, Ronsard's home, La Riche, France
- Saint-Paul Prison, Lyon, France
2011
- Musée d'art et d'histoire de Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, France
2010
- Espace Encan, La Rochelle, France
2009
- Galerie Lelong, Paris, France
- Musée Ingres, Montauban, France
2008
- Maison René Char, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
- Chapelle Saint-Charles, Avignon, France
2007
- Palais Lumière, Évian-les-Bains, France
2005
- Musée de Vendôme, Vendôme, France
- Maison Elsa Triolet-Aragon, Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines, France
1998
- Le Rectangle, Lyon, France
1996
- Mamac, Nice, France
1995
- Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
1979
- ARC, Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France