Bernard Cadène, 81, is a French painter, sculptor and advertising executive who lives in Cugnaux, near Toulouse.
He is the grandson of a music conductor from Aveyron, the son of an accordion player and a mother who teaches domestic arts at secondary school. His parents wanted him to become an accountant, but already inspired by the family tradition, he developed a passion for music and painting. He studied the violin for 12 years, followed by the double bass. In 1961, he joined the Beaux-Arts in Toulouse. By day he studied, by night he was a musician in various orchestras. His passion for jazz later led him to co-create the Festival Jazz en Comminges in Saint-Gaudens.
In 1967, he graduated as a drawing teacher from the Beaux-Arts in Toulouse, but chose advertising design and later audiovisual production, without ever giving up painting.
A recognized painter worldwide
In early 1995, he returned to painting full-time and never left his studio in Cugnaux. His masters include Picasso, Le Greco, Bacon, and Soulages. He began painting in blacks and grays in 1970, which will always be part of his palette, before working with color in 1995, which exploded in his works. He explains in no uncertain terms: "Polychromy or nothing! Colour is light, it's joy, it's music, it's friends. It's love and humour joining hands." He directs color with his hands when the brush becomes a conductor's baton. His movements create music, which fascinates and hypnotises. Everything about Cadène's expression reflects an unquenchable love of colour, which he has been reinventing with every brushstroke for over 60 years.
During his career, he has received several awards: 18 First Prizes in drawing and painting, and the Grand Prize of the Lefranc Competition (1967). Bernard Cadène is also a member of the Académie d'Occitanie des Arts, Lettres, Sciences et Traditions populaires. Bernard Cadène has participated in 146 solo exhibitions and 82 group exhibitions in France and internationally. His works are present in private and institutional collections in 26 countries.
