Pierre De Berreota

Born into a family of industrialists specializing in goldsmithing, Pierre was the son of Alfred de Berroeta and Marthe Tinel. In 1933, he enrolled at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he benefited from the teachings of painters André Devambez and Charles Guérin. His works quickly attracted attention during exhibitions organized by the school. It was also during this time that he met Marguerite Barboteu, nicknamed “Guichoune,” whom he would later marry.

However, the war disrupted his life. Mobilized in Nancy in August 1939, he was soon captured and sent to the German concentration camp. During his incarceration, he continued to draw on sheets depicting Parisian monuments. De Berroeta eventually managed to escape from the camp, and upon his return to France, he married Guichoune in 1941. The artist immediately resumed his activities, participating in various exhibitions such as the Salon d’Automne and events in Bayonne and Saint-Nazaire.

At the end of the 1950s, Pierre moved to Argentina for a few years and began to explore the abstraction movement. He discovered new color palettes that prompted him to deepen his artistic research upon returning to France. As a result, his designs gave rise to nearly 150 tapestries created in Aubusson or at the Gobelins Manufacture.

His early abstract canvases are characterized by a fairly limited color palette. Colors re-emerged with significant material thickness starting in the 1960s.

The 1970s were marked by a diversity of mediums in his art, incorporating structures made of various materials, glass slabs, ceramic tiles, and tapestries.

Finally, in the 1980s and 1990s, Pierre de Berroeta returned to classical techniques, using gouaches and canvases. He drew inspiration from the Basque Country and nature where he passed away in 2004.