Jonathan Bertin, a photographer from Normandy based in Paris, evokes a profound sense of escape through his vibrant and fleeting images, which seem to vibrate with the movements and colors of reality. His photographic approach does not seek to freeze the moment, but rather to reveal its dynamism, its very breath.
Seoul Impressionism ©Jonathan Bertin
There are clear links between Impressionism and the photographs of Jonathan Bertin. Lacking a painter, he captures landscapes and everyday moments in a deliberate blur, playing with light and form to tell a sensitive story. He brings the fluidity of painting to his images, giving life to everyday scenes, urban landscapes, and bucolic scenes.
Born in Normandy in 1996, Jonathan Bertin is equally skilled in digital and film photography. As a teenager, he explored his native region, learning the art of photography. Seeking new horizons and meaning, he then embarked on journeys around the world, honing his eye through exposure to diverse landscapes, cultures, and realities.
Upon his return, his transformed perspective allowed him to see his homeland in a new light. This self-described "ultra-ordinary" artist is drawn to everyday life, revealing its poetic and burlesque moments and imbuing them with a universal appeal. He is particularly sensitive to the richness of tones and the variations of light that surround him.
Seoul Impressionism ©Jonathan Bertin
A passionate and sensitive observer of everyday life, Jonathan Bertin uses it as his testing ground, always on the lookout for the emotion nestled in the ordinary. He approaches photography through the prism of movement and color, in a process inspired by Impressionism, also seeking to represent the ephemeral nature of light and its effects on colors and forms, through free, almost vibrant compositions, and a fully embraced blur.
From 2023 to 2024, he created the "Impressionism" series, composed of 54 images, which poetically captures everyday life in Normandy, seeking to innovatively capture movement, light, and color. The accompanying edition offers an immersive, sensory experience, including a dreamlike soundtrack and a video documentary, inviting viewers to fully immerse themselves in his world.
Seoul Impressionism ©Jonathan Bertin
To coincide with his exhibition "Impressionism – Resonances," presented at Galerie Porte B in 2025, Jonathan Bertin unveils his Normandy-inspired series "Impressionism" for the first time in Paris, and exclusively presents "Seoul Impressionism," his latest photographic work created during his creative residency in South Korea. From his native Normandy to the vibrant streets of Seoul, he weaves a dialogue between photography and painting, capturing landscapes and ordinary moments, continuing to explore the poetry of everyday life that connects places and people. In this new series, his impressionistic approach becomes more vivid, more rhythmic, driven by the intensity of the South Korean metropolis.
Jonathan Bertin is enjoying increasing success following this exhibition, which combines his two major series. In a world that is accelerating, his work invites us to slow down, to rediscover a sensitive awareness of the present. He awakens in us an almost childlike curiosity, one that marvels at the slightest step, the smallest movement, and restores to the ordinary all its poetic power.
