Philippe Pasqua

Philippe Pasqua was born on 15 June 1965 in Grasse, France. He is consistently described across galleries and press as self-taught, with no documented formal art school or degree. By his own account and multiple gallery biographies, he began painting around age 17 to 18 after encountering a reproduction of a Francis Bacon painting, and taught himself the craft rather than enrolling in an academy.

His practice centers on large-scale, expressive heads and figures in painting, alongside sculpture and drawing, with recurring skull and vanitas imagery and, in some series, butterflies. In 2010 he designed The Storage, a permanent exhibition space in Saint-Ouen l'Aumone near Paris, which he uses as an ongoing venue for his own work. His current commercial representation is Galerie RX, in Paris and Ivry, which describes him on its own site as an artist it represents. He lives and works in the Paris area.

Pasqua's exhibition history includes the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, a 2010 retrospective at the Ahlers Foundation in Hanover, and a 2010 painting and drawing exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. In 2017 the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco presented his installation Borderline, framed around ocean conservation, the same year Galerie RX in Paris showed Recomposition. In 2018 the Domaine de Chamarande, a departmental estate in France, hosted his exhibition Allegoria, and the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo in Malaga presented El lado oscuro. More recently, The Storage presented Mon coeur mis a nu into 2025.

Pasqua's critical coverage has come mainly through gallery texts, French-language press, and institutional exhibition materials rather than sustained review coverage in major international art-criticism outlets. No verbatim assessment from a named critic in a major outlet could be confirmed for this profile. What is consistently noted, across galleries and museum programming alike, is the pairing of large-scale, confrontational figuration with memento mori and vanitas imagery, and the fact that institutions in France, Monaco, Russia, Germany, and Spain have each given him solo or featured exhibitions despite his lack of formal art training.

Pasqua's documented auction results vary by medium and venue and do not establish a single, clearly confirmed record price. Phillips has sold the sculpture Lucille for USD 37,500 and the work on paper Vanite aux papillons (Vanity of Butterflies) for GBP 19,375, with no exact sale date visible in the public record for either lot. MutualArt lists the sculpture Olivier realizing USD 27,040 at an unspecified auction house in France. Artsy places his top auction bracket at USD 50,000 and above, without naming an exact top lot. Taken together, these figures point to a market that reaches the high five figures to low six figures in USD at its strongest, one that is still thin and highly sensitive to the specific work, medium, and sale venue, rather than one with a single, well-established price tier.

Pasqua has no published catalogue raisonne and no certificate-of-authenticity program, so provenance should be verified directly through Galerie RX or The Storage rather than assumed from a signature alone. His auction results span a wide range depending on medium, size, and sale venue. No single confirmed record price could be verified, and documented sales at major houses range from about USD 27,000 to USD 50,000 or more, according to the sources reviewed. Collectors should also note that public museum holdings of his work are not clearly documented as permanent collection accessions; institutions such as the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, and the Domaine de Chamarande have hosted major exhibitions of his work, but that is distinct from confirmed permanent ownership.