" I put everything I like in my paintings. Never mind the things, they just have to work themselves out”.

"It took me my whole life to learn how to draw like a child”

Pablo Picasso

 

Born in Brussels in 1971, Thierry Berlier began painting as a self-taught artist at the age of 20. Never satisfied with his work, he searched passionately for his path for many years and took philosophy classes for a while.

From a very early age, he was attracted to Cubism, which he saw as introducing a third dimension to the canvas. He tried to achieve this in his paintings. 

In the works of Picasso, Thierry Berlier is impressed by the deconstruction of characters and faces, by the energy and vitality of the painter. Picasso's paintings literally draw you in. Thierry Berlier works to ensure that his painting makes its mark with the same intensity.

In 2025, the painter found his own pictorial language and technique. He used oil paint as a material that came to life in space, giving the painting a physical, carnal presence. He painted tube in hand, applying the paint briskly with a knife. His gesture unfolds without restraint, leaving room for the unpredictable, which gives the painting its spontaneity and freshness. 

His world is teeming with candid figures, their eyes wide and exorbitant, their mouths wide open as if the world were about to rush in. Some of the faces are mischievous and furtive, almost out of frame, peering out from behind the scenes of the painting. But all his paintings call out to us and look at us without hiding, inviting us into an intimate and singular encounter.

Masks, moons, flowers, faces, suns, planets... emerge from the ultramarine blue backdrop of the paintings to tell us about the enigma of the world, always beginning anew.

The circular shapes, spirals and circles, without beginning or end, leave an impression of infinity and freedom of interpretation. There is no hierarchy in the elements of the painting, none is more important than the other, but they are all interdependent.

Thierry Berlier's paintings imbue us with a feeling of vitality, through their joyful dynamism, their vibrant, luminous colours, and their obstinate candour. And that's where the pleasure of the act of painting comes in.

 

Marie-Êve Stevenne