Born in 1975 in the Paris suburbs, Bénédicte Gelé lives and works in the southwest of France, while exhibiting regularly on the international scene. She paints horses the way one explores an emotion: with attention, nuance, and depth. A passionate self-taught artist, her artistic path first developed alongside a career as an art director and graphic designer — a background that still resonates in the precision of her line and the balance of her compositions.
Her connection with horses began in her teenage years, long after they had already taken over the margins of her school notebooks. Her first mare, bought at the age of 18, became a guide. Through observing her, Bénédicte learned to read emotion in postures, gestures, and subtle shifts — to observe without projecting, to feel without noise.
In her painting, the horse becomes a raw land, sensitive and shifting, to be explored more than depicted. A living territory, mirroring inner states, made of gestures, silences, and traces. Formats and techniques vary depending on what needs to be expressed or brought to light. Semi-abstract painting, textures, fragmented bodies: everything speaks of instinct and inner resonance.
Now fully dedicated to her artistic practice, Bénédicte Gelé explores the horse as a language in itself — both intimate and universal.
The horse becomes a mirror, a messenger, a being as much as a language.
