Discovering Agrume through three paintings: hands, faces and signs

Two raised hands hold a nest above a bowed head. A bird stands on its rim, a twig in its beak. In Agrume’s LE NID DE LA GRIVE, the face occupies a surprisingly small part of the scene. The arms do most of the talking.

Put this painting beside LE SMILEY, LA COUVERTURE SOCIALE and ÊTREINTE AU CITRON, and a connection emerges: a gesture or a familiar motif changes how we read a person. For a collector drawn to one image, these three works offer a reason to keep looking across Agrume’s practice.

In brief

Three paintings by Agrume, all catalogued as oil on canvas:

• LE NID DE LA GRIVE, 2023, 73 × 60 cm.
• LE SMILEY, LA COUVERTURE SOCIALE, 2022, 55.5 × 46 cm.
• ÊTREINTE AU CITRON, 2023, 61 × 46 cm.

A nest held high

In LE NID DE LA GRIVE, the long forearms carry the eye upwards. Hands cup the woven nest; the bird rises above them against a pale background. Below, the bowed head almost disappears into the shoulder and surrounding paint.

The arrangement gives the gesture unusual weight. The person holds something up while keeping their own face low. Care is one possible reading of that relationship. The picture leaves room to wonder about it.

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A smile that does not settle the expression

LE SMILEY, LA COUVERTURE SOCIALE brings us closer to a face. A yellow circle and black smile cross the painted features. The eyes remain visible underneath. Lower down, a hand holds a brush.

A smiley is usually easy to read. Here its fixed cheerfulness sits over a much less easily summarised expression. The brush adds another question: what is being shown, and what is being painted? The title gives that gap between sign and face a social dimension.

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An embrace among lemons

In ÊTREINTE AU CITRON, two figures hold each other among rows of whole and cut lemons. Hands rest on a back and an arm. Yellow moves through the surrounding pattern and into the figures.

After the smiley, the colour feels different. It spreads across the image rather than concentrating in one sign. The embrace gathers the composition at its centre, while repeated fruit carries the eye towards its edges.

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The gallery’s eye

Try reading the three paintings through their hands: supporting, holding a brush, embracing. This is a proposed way into the group. It brings out connections that colour alone might miss.

Galerie Dumas’s artist introduction describes figures existing with their surroundings. Here, that relationship changes from a nest held aloft to a sign across a face and a pattern around an embrace. The recurring question becomes more interesting with each variation: how much can a gesture or motif tell us about someone?

Looking across these paintings offers another way to choose a work for your collection. Which of these relationships would you want to return to, and how might it speak to works you already live with?

Explore the three works

Meet Agrume and explore his work

View LE NID DE LA GRIVE in the shop · View LE SMILEY, LA COUVERTURE SOCIALE · View ÊTREINTE AU CITRON

Check current availability and purchase terms on the work pages. To discuss a painting or its place in your collection, find Galerie Dumas’s contact link on the homepage.