Nicolas SANHES
Born in 1965 in Rodez, France
Exhibitions & Commissions
- 2001–2004 — Development of the Maillages series, digitized steel wire works
- 2004 — Art dans la ville, La Verrière / F.R.A.C. Midi-Pyrénées, 20 years of F.R.A.C., Toulouse
- 2006 — First public commission IPt for the City of Trappes / Partnership with the Legendre Group
- 2007 — Public commission IPm for the City of Montélimar / Galerie La Réserve d’area, Paris
- 2008 — Commanderie des Templiers, Elancourt / Art Sénat, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris
- 2010 — Galerie R, Grande-Synthe / City Museum, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
- 2011 — Artist residency Cœurs d’acier, ArcelorMittal, Grande-Synthe / Returns to painting during the public commission for Valenciennes
- 2011–2012 — Public commission HV11, City of Valenciennes
- 2014–2023 — Exploration of Incident Geometry: reflection on the formal relationships between painting and sculpture
- 2018 — Invited to work on the renovation of Place de la Cité in Rodez / Commission for a monumental work for the Jardin des Capucins
- 2022 — Purchase of a painting for the Société Générale collection, La Défense, Puteaux
- 2023 — Galerie R, Grande-Synthe / Release of the film HV11 (52 min, TVfil78) / Groundbreaking for his new 2,500 m² studio in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Nicolas Sanhes is an artist whose work spans sculpture, geometry and painting to question matter, space and perception. Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts de Perpignan from 1984, he discovered early on the works of Ellsworth Kelly and Ad Reinhardt, which steered his practice towards a rigorous abstraction, always in tension between the presence and disappearance of form.
Over three decades, his work revolves around a central question: how can the line, reduced to its purest state, give rise to an invisible architecture, a geometry in motion? This research led him to develop the concept of Géométrie incidente — an approach in which the line is no longer a simple trace in space, but a relational entity between plane and vertical, between volume and void.
His career, spanning formal abstraction and monumental public commissions, makes him a singular figure in contemporary French art. In 2023, he was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
2001–2004 Radical shift with the Maillages series, wire sculptures in steel derived from the digitisation of wooden works. Developed over two years, reduced to a play of lines resembling an ouroboros — the formal register of his current works.
2002 Centre Culturel, Ribeyrac. Art ou Nature, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris. Publication of a catalogue. Biennale de Saint-Cloud. Publication of a catalogue. Entre Ciel et Terre, Maison des Arts, Bagneux. Publication of a catalogue. Arts en Marches, Forêt de Fougères, Fougères. Salon de la jeune Création, Paris. Publication of a catalogue.
2004 Art dans la ville, La Verrière. F.R.A.C. Midi-Pyrénées, 20 years of F.R.A.C., Toulouse. ARTevent, Galerie La Réserve d’area, Paris. Choreographic creation with choreographer Jean-Christophe Bléton.
2005 Musée éphémère, Montélimar. Publication of a catalogue.
2006 Art Fair, Ghent, Belgium. Galerie Le Corbusier, Trappes. First public commission IPt for the City of Trappes and the Peace movement, with 10 students from the Lycée technique Louis Blériot. Publication of a booklet.
2007 Galerie La Réserve d’area, Paris. IPm, Public commission for the City of Montélimar. Partnership with the transport and logistics group Legendre.
2008 Commanderie des Templiers, Elancourt. Art Sénat, Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris. Publication of a catalogue.
2009 La Réserve d’Area, Paris. Publication of a catalogue. Jardin des Arts, Châteaubourg. Publication of a catalogue.
2010 Galerie R, Grande-Synthe. Musée de la Ville, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Enters the museum’s permanent collection. L’Art dans les jardins, Metz-2010. Publication of a catalogue. Festival Escaut, Rives, Derives, Neuville-sur-Escaut. Publication of a catalogue.
2011 Artist residency Cœurs d’acier with former ArcelorMittal workers in Grand-Synthe. Publication of a catalogue. Les Monumentales d’Arcachon, Arcachon. Maison de la Culture, Metz. Publication of a catalogue. Fondation Datris, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. Publication of a catalogue. Nicolas Sanhes establishes a partnership Une sculpture pour un atelier with the Communauté de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and moves into a new workspace that will enable him to develop his sculpture towards monumentality. Nicolas Sanhes returns to painting during the creation of the public commission in Valenciennes.
2011–2012 HV11, Public commission for the City of Valenciennes.
2012 Château de Nogent-le-Roi, Nogent-le-Roi. Galerie de l’Aquarium, Valenciennes. Galerie Déprez-Bellorget, Paris. Guest lecturer at the École d’Architecture de Versailles.
2014 Fondation Poppy et Pierre Salinger, Le Thor.
2014–2023 Following several public commissions and various exhibitions, Nicolas Sanhes explores a new reflection on the concept of Géométrie incidente — a signature tied to the formal relationships within his sculpture. Over nearly four years, the artist explores in painting the part of emptiness that becomes perceptible through the use of colour. Over these ten years of research, Nicolas Sanhes developed a new geometry he named Géométrie incidente, developed in collaboration with art critic Jean-Louis Poitevin. Nicolas Sanhes no longer considers the line as a simple succession of points in space, but rather in its thickness, conceiving it as a relationship between a plane and a vertical.
2015 Publication of the monograph “Une géométrie incidente”, Archibooks edition. Château Sainte-Roseline, Les Arcs. Enters the Collection of Château Sainte-Roseline. Purchase of IP1, City of Val-de-Reuil.
2016 Fondation Datris, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. Publication of a catalogue. Parcours de sculptures, Évreux. Publication of a catalogue. Centre d’art contemporain, Les Tanneries, Amilly. Research and development workshop with engineers from Systra-Artgénierie, Paris. Trip to India at the invitation of the Institut Français. Musée Soulages / Jardin du Foirail, Rodez. Publication of a catalogue.
2017 Galerie Podgorny-Robinson, Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Musée de Ningbo, China. Purchase by the Rhéna clinic, Strasbourg.
2018 Enters the Collection of Fondation Datris, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. Publication of a catalogue. Nicolas Sanhes is approached for the renovation of the Place de la Cité in Rodez. The project, though well advanced, does not come to fruition, but the city commissions a monumental work for the new Combarel eco-district, for the Jardin des Capucins, opposite the Musée Soulages.
2019 Galerie Réplique, Rodez. Architectatwork, Paris. Galerie Podgorny-Robinson, Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Delivery of the work RODEZ, commissioned by the City of Rodez.
2020 Centre d’Art, La Mouche domaine de Pradines-le-Bas, Béziers.
2021 Galerie Podgorny-Robinson, Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
2022 Purchase of a painting for the Société Générale collection, La Défense, Puteaux.
2023 Galerie R, Grande-Synthe. Art Paris, Galerie Podgorny-Robinson. Release of the film HV11 on the City of Valenciennes commission. 52 min, TVfil78 production. In March, groundbreaking ceremony for his new 2,500 m² studio, which he moved into on 17 October of the same year in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. La Menuiserie, Rodez. La Griffe, Ceyrat. Publication of the book Sculpture iconique, Jean Colrat, Octobre Novembre edition.
2024 Bonisson Artcenter, Château de Bonisson, Rognes. Château de Taurines, Taurines. Publication of a catalogue. Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier, Paris. Galerie Podgorny-Robinson, Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Enters the Société Générale Collection, Val-de-Fontenay. Private Collection, Miami.