La France de Bernard Buffet

Opera Gallery London

03 October - 02 November 2025

Opera Gallery London is proud to present ‘La France de Bernard Buffet’, the most significant exhibition of the French master’s work in the city for more than fifty years. Recognised as one of the most important French painters of the twentieth century, Bernard Buffet occupies a central place in the history of post-war art. Since the early 2000s, Opera Gallery has championed Buffet’s vision across its international network, introducing new audiences worldwide to his powerful and distinctive style.

A Landmark Exhibition

Featuring more than twenty paintings spanning five decades, ‘La France de Bernard Buffet’ explores the artist’s lifelong engagement with his home country of France. Buffet’s landscapes, cityscapes, and seascapes are more than depictions of place, they are meditations on French memory and cultural identity. Characterised by his unmistakable stark black lines and bold, saturated colours, these works capture the duality of France: austere yet lyrical, monumental yet intimate.

Bernard Buffet and post-war painting

Emerging in the late 1940s, Buffet quickly established himself as a defining figure in European painting. At a time when abstraction dominated, his severe, angular and strikingly expressive style reasserted the urgency of figuration, giving voice to the existential mood of the post-war years. His meteoric rise and shifting critical reception reflected the changing tides of taste, but his consistency and ability to merge personal aesthetics with broader cultural reflections make him one of the most compelling artists to revisit today.

Renewed recognition

The exhibition continues Opera Gallery’s long-term commitment to preserving and sharing Buffet’s legacy. His work has seen a major resurgence in recent years, reinforced by the landmark retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris in 2016, which reaffirmed his place at the heart of French cultural history. With ‘La France de Bernard Buffet’, Opera Gallery London brings together key works that invite both seasoned collectors and new audiences to engage directly with his art.

Universal themes through French identity

While rooted in France – from Parisian streets to village churches and the rocky coasts of Brittany – Buffet’s paintings resonate with universal themes of memory, belonging, and identity. His art continues to raise questions that reach far beyond national borders, affirming his relevance within the global story of twentieth-century figuration.

Bernard Buffet is not only an icon of French painting but also a pillar of the gallery’s international programme. With this exhibition, the gallery reaffirms its role in celebrating and sustaining Buffet’s legacy, presenting his work to audiences in London and worldwide.