About Claire Tabouret

Claire Tabouret (born 1981, Pertuis, France) is a French figurative painter based in Los Angeles, celebrated for her emotionally charged portraits that blur the line between reality and fantasy. Her impressionistic artworks are defined by a fluid, hydrous palette that shifts between the vibrant tones of cosmetics and the muted shades of natural earth, producing paintings that feel simultaneously ethereal and deeply human.

Drawing inspiration from vintage photography, magazines, historical texts, and personal memory, Tabouret’s work merges past and present with striking immediacy. She describes her artistic process as intuitive—led by gesture and impulse rather than calculation - allowing emotion to guide her brush. The result is layered compositions that explore transformation, nostalgia, and identity, depicting her subjects in moments of becoming through costume, makeup, or dramatic color.

Tabouret’s paintings highlight the fleeting yet profound nature of change, capturing figures in pivotal states of transition. Her art invites viewers into these intimate moments, prompting reflection on identity, time, and the transformative power of painting itself. This ability to merge contemporary urgency with timeless figuration has established Tabouret as a major voice in international contemporary art.

In addition to her large-scale canvases, Claire Tabouret creates limited edition prints that translate her painterly language into collectible formats. These editions allow a wider audience to engage with her emotional and visual narratives, making her work accessible to collectors while maintaining the intensity and depth of her original paintings. Today, Tabouret lives and works in Los Angeles, continuing to develop a body of work that resonates globally with audiences seeking both beauty and psychological insight.

Notable exhibitions

Claire Tabouret’s international acclaim has been reinforced through a series of solo and group exhibitions at leading museums and galleries worldwide. She gained early institutional attention with exhibitions in France, including Les Veilleurs at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, and has since gone on to present solo shows at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, and the Villa Medici in Rome.

Her work has also been featured in major international group exhibitions and biennials, such as The Drawing Biennial at the Drawing Room in London and Women Painting Women at The Modern in Fort Worth, underscoring her position among today’s leading figurative painters. In 2022, the Musée Picasso in Paris presented Women, a critically acclaimed exhibition that explored the female gaze through her distinctive portraiture.

In addition to her exhibition history, Claire Tabouret’s paintings and limited edition prints are represented in prominent public collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), ICA Miami, the Pinault Collection, and the Columbus Museum of Art. These holdings highlight both her institutional recognition and her growing presence in the international art market.