Jan Van Imschoot Reimagines French Icons at Galerie Templon

Jan Van Imschoot, a Flemish painter born in Ghent in 1963 and based in France since 2013, presents nineteen new paintings at Galerie Templon in Paris. The exhibition, titled 'Le chant du pommier,' runs from May 21 to July 18, 2026. Van Imschoot focuses on five major figures of French national mythology: Joan of Arc, Brigitte Bardot, Simone Veil, Colette, and Coco Chanel. He critiques how collective memory has flattened these complex women into simplified icons. The artist, trained in the tradition of Tintoretto and influenced by Luc Tuymans, employs what he calls an 'anarcho-baroque' style, using color and recomposed perspective to reveal contradictions within each figure—saint and sinner, resistance fighter and seductress, liberator and socialite. The biblical apple tree from Eve's story serves as a leitmotif, symbolizing the moment before myth solidifies. The exhibition is located at 30 rue Beaubourg, 75003 Paris, open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm, closed Monday and Sunday, with free entry.