Sacha Cambier de Montravel, born in 1995 in Liège, Belgium, lives and works in Paris.
A graduate in Visual Arts from La Cambre in 2020 and from the Beaux-Arts in Paris in 2022, Sacha Cambier de Montravel received the Entrée en collection award and the Félicité prize that same year.
Deeply influenced by the Flemish pictorial tradition, he situates his practice in a lineage extending from Van Eyck to Patinier, by way of Bosch and Bruegel, and in dialogue with masters of engraving such as Dürer and Doré. From this heritage he has drawn a keen sense of detail, an attentiveness to symbols, and a narrative approach in which each image invites multiple interpretations. His compositions, infused with Byzantine, Gothic, and Romantic aesthetics, explore the interplay of light and chiaroscuro, heightened by the brilliance of gold or silver leaf.
Several years ago, Sacha Cambier de Montravel set aside canvas in favour of wood, reviving a medium rooted in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance whose technical and symbolic qualities he fully exploits. Its rigid, smooth surface lends itself to precise painting, turning each panel into the stage for a miniature world. Like early polyptychs, his works can be read in fragments: colourful scenes, enigmatic figures, and signs to be deciphered coexist in a shifting equilibrium. Each image takes shape over time, poised between revelation and mystery.
Blending the language of comic books with carefully selected sacred iconography, his work is distinguished by an original formal and narrative approach. Without nostalgia, the artist revives ancient pictorial traditions to offer a contemporary vision: a painting at once erudite and sensitive, where the visual memory of Flanders engages with contemporary imagination.
Sacha Cambier de Montravel has taken part in solo and group exhibitions including j'ai assis la Beauté sur mes genoux. - Et je l'ai trouvée amère at Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Brussels, Belgium, 2025), Gothiques at the Louvre-Lens (Lens, France, 2025), Guilty Pleasures at Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris, France, 2025), and the 68th edition of the Salon de Montrouge (Montrouge, France, 2025). His work has also been presented at the Luxembourg Art Fair (Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, 2024), in Rayonnement (Private Choice, Paris, France, 2024), and in No Future comme disaient les punks (Les Jardiniers de Montrouge, Montrouge, France, 2024).
In 2023, he participated in Desire (We are Village, Berlin, Germany). The year 2022 was marked by his participation in Ec(h)o Poétique (Les Grandes Serres de Pantin, Pantin, France), Disaster Class (Tour Orion, Montreuil, France), Last Minute (Espace Voltaire, Paris, France), the Exposition des Félicités (Beaux-Arts de Paris, France), La sorcière, le bouffon, les sentinelles, le fantôme et la princesse (Château de Vincennes, Vincennes, France), and Les rats qui flottent (Espace Bouchor, Paris, France).
His first exhibitions date back to 2021 with Workshop Trecento (Galerie Italienne, Paris, France), Limbes (La Tannerie de Houdan, Houdan, France), Art Paris (Palais Éphémère, Paris, France), and À la recherche de toujours (Palais des Expositions, Paris, France). He also participated in the Exposition des diplômants (Espace Vanderborght, Brussels, Belgium, 2020) and Labo Demo (Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, France, 2020).