VICTOIRE D'HARCOURT

b. 1966, Bordeaux, France

Initially, these are composed of gentle circles, intertwined carefully with one another. Solid and self-assured. United and bound forever. What could be more reassuring than these indissoluble, steadfast bonds, evoking the sense that nothing could ever separate them? Everything seems so settled, so enduring. We are comforted.

Yet, on closer examination, this strength is more fragile than it appears, and these large circles are held together by a mere thread. United or free? It is too late; the artist has made a choice. Separation is impossible without risking everything. The pursuit of freedom is unattainable. We find ourselves bound, alienated.

Victoire d'Harcourt’s work often expresses a dual sentiment, binding strength with fragility in an ensemble of precarious balance. It is not the links themselves that are troubling but rather what they rest upon.

BIOGRAPHY

Victoire d’Harcourt was born in Bordeaux in 1966. From her childhood spent between France, Tahiti, and Madagascar, she retained a love of wide open spaces and vibrant colors. She has exhibited her work since 1985 in world renowned institutions, events, and fairs, including the École du Louvre, École du Musée des, Salon des Beaux-Arts de Garches, Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris, the Guoyi Art Museum at the National Gallery of Fine Arts in Beijing, and the Modern Art Fair Paris with Galerie Hégoa.

RESUME

VICTOIRE D'HARCOURT

Victoire d’Harcourt has long been drawn to urbanism and the architecture of vast spaces. She revisits museums and other expansive sites where individuals confront themselves. For her, place is fundamental; it structures and animates each narrative.
A painter–photographer, she deliberately transgresses reality. Working from her own black-and-white photographs, she reconstructs the image with broad planes of color that subtly reveal a deeper, concealed truth beyond appearances. Her work unfolds as a dialogue between abstraction and figuration—an unresolved search for balance between two seemingly opposing worlds, bridged through visual tension.
Her painted photographs are set in museums that appear emptied of meaning, occasionally crossed by visitors who are neither fully engaged nor fully detached. Slightly adrift, they observe artworks as they might their own histories: as a pause. Gradually, from what first appears real, d’Harcourt draws us into an ambivalent realm where the fundamental questions of existence are posed—without answers.