Exhibition Nikolaï Dronnikov

My home is French, my land is Russian

Dear Collectors,

It is with great joy that we announce our new exhibition honoring our beloved Russian painter, Nikolaï Dronnikov.

95 years ago, the painter who was the most Russian among French painters, and the most French among Russians, was born in the Tula region.

Dronnikov never stopped painting Paris, its bridges, the Seine, and especially Notre-Dame, which he depicted in all lights and seasons, in the manner of Monet’s series. Since 1973, he has relentlessly explored the world of Parisian riverbanks and the homeless.

He discovered Honfleur later, fascinated by its slate roofs, quays, and the Sainte-Catherine church. His paintings then enriched with soft colors: ochre, gray, summer blue, cadmium red, Veronese green, all structured by the black contours of his neo-primitivist style.

As the poet Léon Robel wrote: "His desire to live in France was not only political but also aesthetic."

After meeting Chagall in 1968, Dronnikov left the USSR and settled in the Paris region. He took part in many prestigious exhibitions alongside Kandinsky, Chagall, Poliakoff, de Staël... and received a major tribute in 2004 at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris.

His works are featured in numerous museums: the Pushkin Museum, the BnF, the Do Gallery in Saint Petersburg, the Literary Museum in Moscow…

Until his passing in January 2025, Dronnikov painted tirelessly, paying tribute to his peers: Brodsky, Tarkovsky, Solzhenitsyn, Rostropovich…