At ARS ESSENTIA, our contemporary art gallery dedicated to the presentation and sale of sculpture, we showcase works created using a wide variety of techniques: direct carving in wood or stone, clay modelling for ceramics, and ironwork for ferrous metals. Yet it is bronze sculpture that sparks the most curiosity. Its presence, its density, its unique patina captivate our visitors. This is why we offer a complete introduction to the lost‑wax casting technique, an ancestral pro

The name of the gallery comes from the Latin ars essentiae , “the essence of art.” This choice reflects the guiding principle of the gallery: presenting works that express a singular vision, a conscious artistic gesture, and impeccable formal quality, whatever the technique employed. A work of art must be able to touch the viewer beyond words. It should move, surprise, unsettle, or elevate. Before any explanation, it is the aesthetic spark that matters—the sudden emotion that

Isabelle Carabantes: Instituting the Living, Reinventing Contemporary Animal Sculpture.

Igor Mitoraj is a world‑renowned Franco‑Polish artist. Born in 1944, he died in 2014 in Paris. A resolutely postmodern artist, he seeks in ancient statuary a balance of forms that transcends the centuries. A student of the prestigious Tadeusz Kantor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, he inherited from his master—an influential art theorist—his taste for ancient myths. Mitoraj created numerous monumental sculptures exhibited in London, in Agrigento in Sicily, and in Paris

“ARS ESSENTIA Gallery in Beaune invites visitors to discover contemporary painting and animal sculpture curated by an École du Louvre expert.” If you are visiting Beaune, Burgundy’s wine capital, make sure to include ARS ESSENTIA Gallery in your itinerary. After exploring the vineyards and the famous Hospices de Beaune, step into the gallery to experience a unique encounter with contemporary painting and animal sculpture. Directed by a gallerist trained at the École du Louvre

Collecting paintings is far more than a simple pastime: it is a cultural, patrimonial, and sometimes financial endeavor. Each canvas is a meeting point between an artist, an era, and a vision of the world. But how can one begin or expand a painting collection safely? The answer lies in choosing a specialized art gallery such as ARS ESSENTIA, which provides expertise and guarantees at every step. Why Choose an Art Gallery When Collecting Paintings? Buying a work directly from

Near the cellars of the "Joseph Drouhin" winery, the church in Beaune features 15th-century frescoes, which can be admired after enjoying a tasting of fine Burgundy wines. The town of Beaune is dotted with many remnants of its medieval past. Let us not forget that until the reign of Louis XI, it was the seat of the Parliament of Burgundy. Thus, in one of the side chapels of the Notre-Dame Collegiate Church, you can admire a mural dating from the late 15th century. This paint

Prehistoric sculptures from Vogelherd, Germany. The history of animal sculpture is a fascinating journey that begins in prehistoric times. The earliest known works date back to the Magdalenian period, around 15,000 years ago. The humans of that time carved animals from mammoth ivory and bone. For example, the famous "small horse of Lourdes," found in the Espélugues cave in Lourdes, is a figure carved from mammoth ivory. However, the oldest animal sculptures in ivory were disc

Michel Cadoret de l'Epineguen was an important representative of French painting in the 50s and 60s, in his time he was distinguished by art critics and was a friend of Alexander Calder. He spent much of his life in Mexico and the United States, so much so that he was called the most American of French painters by the art critic Pierre Courthion. Born in Paris in 1912, he studied at the Beaux-Arts from 1928 to 1932. Mobilized in 1939 and taken prisoner, he escaped in 1940 bef