Jules Milhau
Jules Milhau is a painter brought up in the heart of the ancient city of Nîmes in the South of France. Cradled by the rhythm of the ferias, from a young age he rubbed shoulders with artists, actors, bullfighters, singers and flamenco dancers. His world is profoundly Mediterranean, and the frenzied rhythm of the taconeo marked by the dancer’s heel, accompanied by guitars, never leaves Jules when he paints, a ritual that is part of his creative process.
‘It’s difficult to talk about Jules Milhau’s work without mentioning his astonishing precocity. Not only because this precocity is remarkable, but because it raises direct questions about what an artist is, and how one becomes one.’ – Agnès Jaoui
“My great-great-aunt used to make me listen to records by Vicente Pradal, who set García Lorca’s poems to music. As soon as I heard the music, I knew it was somewhere inside me. It’s more than a passion – it’s my way of living, my way of being. I’m a painter and I’m flamenco. They are not separate.”
“Ever since I first put my hands full of colour on the walls of my house, I’ve been on this path of painting. For me, it’s about accepting doubt and embracing the question marks. It means believing that you always have something to say.”
“I think I always find a way to come back to the very first emotions from childhood…the energy and scents of the méchoui in the gardens at le mas with farmworkers and my great-grandfather. It’s the Mediterranean, it’s Corsica, it’s the sand, the Camargue, the salt, the flamenco. In the end, I always come back to what first touched me, which for me are the truest emotions.”
