Inès Longevial

Inès Longevial is a French painter currently working in Paris.

Life and education

Inès Longevial grew up in the South-West of France, with family in the Basque Country, allowing her to be close to Spanish culture. Her mother encouraged her art. She began drawing and painting at the age of 7.
In her family library, she encountered the works of Picasso, Matisse, and Modgliani. She subsequently studied Niki de Saint-Phalle, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Georgia O'Keeffe, and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar, who all influenced her work.
She earned a in 2011 and a in 2013.
She first began showing her work on Instagram, where she garnered over 178,000 followers. She moved to Paris at age 23.

Career

In 2016, her paintings were exhibited at Galerie M in Toulouse.
Her first solo exhibit was Sous Le Soleil in Los Angeles at the HVW8 Gallery in 2017. Subsequently, she appeared on the cover of the magazine Juxtapoz.
In 2018, she had another solo exhibit at Galerie M Toulouse, Je Pleure Comme Je Ris. The painter performed a residency / exhibition entitled Je Suis Une Couleur in October 2018 in San Francisco for the Chandran Gallery.
That same year, she was chosen to design the new bottle Evian and Badoit in limited edition with the agency BETC.
She has also collaborated with brands including Nike, Levi’s, Wad, and Stance.
In 2019, she self-produced her first Parisian exhibition at the Tournelles Gallery.
In 2021, she had an exhibition at Les Grandes Serres de Pantin, staged by contemporary art gallery Ketabi Projects, which seeks to "introduce and promote the work of a new generation of contemporary artists from France and abroad”. Founder Charlotte Ketabi-Lebard described Longevial as “an exceptional artist, a fine portraitist and colourist,” saying that “her work resonates strongly with our time. What really touches me is that she depicts our generation of women in all of its opposites, between a soft tenderness and a deaf violence."
She published her first monograph book, presenting a significant selection of paintings and sketches, in September 2023.
She took part in the Paris+ par Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach in 2024. She is currently represented by the gallery Almine Rech, with a co-representation by Ketabi Bourdet in France.

Style and subject

Longevial’s oil paintings and drawings focus on two primary themes of femininity and nature. Expansive, often minimal portraits and fragments of feminine bodies are examined closely through light and color, with different palettes reflecting different emotions. She "approaches her memories in color and gives form to candid and absorbed faces that embody the nostalgia of seasons, sunsets, shades of light, and caresses." Her large oil portraits on canvas and paper "take the appearance of a landscape" and seek to "make the face speak" through unique manipulations of light, shadow, and color. She cites self portraiture as her favorite genre and playground, giving her the "freedom to follow an imaginary and poetic dream." She is inspired by "he variations of light as they convey and capture an impression, a sensation, a feeling." Her work is described as having a "melancholic sweetness."
Through subtle facial expressions and details of posture, the artist seeks to "reclaim her body, to assert her femininity."
Through depicting silent yet expressive women, Longevial says she would like to "portray a body that is not particularly eroticised, a body that takes full control of its own power."

Exhibitions

2017

Sous le soleil
HVW8 Gallery, Los Angeles, US

2018

Je suis une couleur
Chandran Gallery, San Francisco, US
Four Conversations - Group show
HVW8 Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2019

Grandes espérances
Chandran Gallery, New York, US
Œuvres récentes
Galerie des Tournelles, Paris, France

2020

I Miss You
Chandran Gallery, Online

2021

Chaotic Energy
Christie’s, Paris, France
Before the sun sinks low
Ketabi Projects, Pantin, France
Opening show - Group show
Musée National de la Faïencerie de Gien, France
Nouvelles Résolutions - Group show
Ketabi Projects, Paris, France
Salon de Peinture - Group show
Almine Rech, New York, US
Artistes à la Une - Group show
Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France
Art Paris - Art Fair
Ketabi Projects, Paris, France

2022

En chair et en os
Van de Weghe, New York, US
L’heure magique
Fine Art Museum, Agen, France
Tomorrow is your lucky day
FIAF, New York, US
World on paper
Ketabi Projects, Paris, France
Oat milk tears
Journal Gallery, New York, US

2023

Pourfendue
Almine Rech, London, UK
Body Double - Group show
Ketabi Bourdet / Penske, Paris, France
Perchée
Ketabi Bourdet, Paris, France
Modigliani and the Modern Portrait - Group show
Nassau County Museum of Art, New York, US
Je est un autre - Group show
Chateau La Coste, Provence, France
Feeling of Light - Group show
Almine Rech, Bruxelles, Belgique
Art 021 - Art Fair
Almine Rech, Shanghai, China
Art Bruxelles - Art Fair
Almine Rech, Bruxelles, Belgique
Art Paris - Art Fair
Ketabi Bourdet, Paris, France
amfAR Gala
Cap Eden Roc, Antibes, France

2024

Les Silences du Désir
Almine Rech, Shanghai, China
Le jour des peintres
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
Art Brussels
Almine Rech, Brussels, Belgium
Art Paris
Almine Rech, Paris, France
Art Basel Hong Kong
Almine Rech, Shanghai, China

2025

Visages - Group show
Almine Rech, New York, USA
Une chambre à soi - Group show
Château La Coste, Provence, France