French Scenery, a site-specific work by Françoise Pétrovitch for the French Residence in Washington

The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs has entrusted the Cnap (Centre national des arts plastiques) with overseeing a new artistic commission for the dining room of the French Residence in Washington. For this project, the Cnap selected Françoise Pétrovitch, who conceived French Scenery, a site-specific work comprising seven oil paintings on canvas integrated into the room's existing wood panelling.

Designed specifically for this reception space, the work brings together evocations of European landscapes with echoes of the American natural environment. It will be unveiled as part of the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of Franco-American friendship.

A painted setting for the Residence

Conceived as a visual journey, the work continues the great French tradition of bucolic panoramic decoration. Françoise Pétrovitch's distinctive artistic language unfolds through landscapes inhabited by human and animal figures beneath the trees, creating a dialogue with the room's architecture and its openings. The paintings extend the perspectives towards the garden, establishing a seamless continuity between the interior and the surrounding landscape.

The work evokes a European landscape. With just a few brushstrokes, state forests, islands and clearings emerge, inviting the imagination to wander. Young people move through and observe a landscape of birch trees interwoven with waterways. These scenes also welcome echoes of the American landscape, as birds and squirrels from the adjacent park find their place within the composition.

The project fully embraces the ornamental dimension of the commission while exploring and reinterpreting its codes. The vertical rhythm of the trees and the reflections on the water structure highly ordered compositions, as befits a decorative ensemble. The palette, centred on light and luminous tones, is enriched by deep mauves and reds, together with a dominant green. The overall harmony of the work stems from the coherence of this carefully balanced colour palette.