Poolside Breakfast, by Pascal Duval

Behind the painting

"This piece sums it all up so perfectly, it’s titled ‘Poolside Breakfast'. To me it says, fresh flowers, strawberries, spring sun, a couple of freshly baked croissants and some lovely but weird Japanese Jazz music in the background.

What I love about the work of Pascal Duval and especially this piece, is that it’s so convincing. The perfect mix of figurative and abstract forms that all lead to the same story. Without even knowing exactly what you see, you still feel the energy of a Sunday Morning in Spring and you hear the experimental music in the background. Also look at all the different brush strokes, patterns and colour use, there’s so much variety, yet it all combines into one visual language.

This is a painting with conviction, by a great painter who has no doubt when painting. Every stroke is right, strong lines, forms and textures. No doubt a quick painting but definitely not rushed. The difference in strokes, the variety of textures and levels of transparency, but also the use of whitespace, is what makes this piece a breakthrough piece for Duval. His work was already really good, but it just gets better and better. And it goes so fast as well, Duval is a quick learner."