Born in 1981 in the south of France, Claire Tabouret is a painter and artist based between Paris and Los Angeles. A graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2006), she quickly embraced a figurative practice exploring the human figure, identity and memory.

Her paintings depict young women, children, siblings, groups - figures often fixed in uncertain space and time, rendered with vibrant color, expressive technique, and a wide palette. Beyond painting, she creates drawings, sculptures, and site-specific mural installations, extending her reflection on presence, representation and the body.

Tabouret has exhibited extensively with Galerie Perrotin - notably in Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo, Séoul, and Hong Kong. Her artistic vocabulary blends contemporary style, emotional depth, and a highly personal narrative.

In 2025, she is creating a major series of contemporary stained-glass windows for Notre-Dame de Paris. A project that highlights her ability to connect collective memory, spiritual heritage and intimate artistic exploration.

‎

The selfportrait occupies a unique place in Tabouret’s oeuvre. Through it, she questions identity, doubt, presence, absence, and the fluidity of the self. Each image becomes a reflection of an inner state, a fleeting emotion, a buried memory - a mirror held up to the viewer.

‎

Key Series and Iconic Works

Before the Pandemic: “Mirrors and Reflections”

This early series gathers five acrylic self-portraits, frontal or slightly turned, like successive reflections in a single mirror. Already, the artist explores repetition, temporal offset, and the tension between what is fixed and what dissolves. The palette shifts between blue, green, dark, yellow, orange and muted tones, giving the portraits a vibrant, expressive energy.

During Lockdown: “Lockdown Self-Portraits”

During the global pandemic, in her Los Angeles studio, Tabouret turned inward. In these acrylic works, the lines blur into thick layers of paint, translating both isolation and resilience. These artworks, revealed during her 2020 exhibition at Perrotin Tokyo, resonated deeply with audiences around the world. They speak to universal human experience: solitude, emotion, and the fragile sense of time.

“Self-Portrait at the Table”

Part of the Pinault Collection, this iconic painting explores the tension between intimacy and the staged figure. The repeated portrait becomes almost an icon: one person multiplied, an individual fragmented into reflections. The theme evokes memory, loss, presence, and the complexity of being both subject and material, both person and painting. The table becomes a silent witness, grounding the expressive brushstrokes and shifting colors.

‎

Major Themes in Tabouret’s Self-Portraits

For Claire Tabouret, the selfportrait becomes an intimate laboratory where questions of identity, memory, societal norms, and emotional experience are constantly renegotiated. By painting her own face repeatedly, she transforms repetition into exploration - a desire to understand the continuity of a self in motion.

Her figures, sometimes barely sketched, sometimes dense and material, reflect the human body shaped by memory, shadow, and emotional layers. The work conveys a sense of vulnerability, creating a strong connection with the viewer.

Time plays a crucial role. Many series operate like a visual diary: a day-by-day introspection, a chronicle of interior life. Each variation of color, gesture, or stroke becomes a trace of lived experience.

Psychoanalysis also informs her approach: painting becomes a confrontation with inner landscapes, a process of revealing what is hidden. Her gestures oscillate between control and release, between darkness and light, between personal introspection and universal emotion.

‎

Materials & Techniques

Tabouret’s work is defined by expressive gestures, layered acrylic paint, bold color combinations, and a vibrant palette. The canvas absorbs each layer, creating shifting textures and luminous depths. She extends these techniques through sculptural elements and large-scale mural explorations.

‎

Represented by Galerie Perrotin, Claire Tabouret stands among the most prominent contemporary artists of her generation. Her works travel across major cities (Paris, London, Tokyo, Miami, Los Angeles, Shanghai) and her presence in international art fairs and exhibitions continues to grow.

In France, she was recently celebrated at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes (summer 2025), where her expressive self-portraits dialogued with major pieces from the Pinault Collection.

Her next major event, D’un seul souffle, will take place at the Grand Palais in Paris from December 10, 2025 to March 15, 2026. The exhibition will present her stained-glass project for Notre-Dame de Paris: a major artistic achievement reflecting light, memory, and contemporary creation.

To follow her inspirations, collaborations, studio moments and new works, her Instagram account offers a behind-the-scenes look. She recently announced her collaboration with Études Studio, available via the Perrotin Store.

‎

And to keep a fragment of Claire Tabouret’s poetry at home, explore our selection of posters, clothing and limited editions available on the Perrotin Store.