On the centenary of the painter's birth (Lesneven, 1926-2012), the Atelier François Dilasser has organised a major retrospective of his work, presented in ten locations across Brittany, from April 2026 to January 2027.

Dilasser was deeply attached to the region of his birth, and from the 1970s developed a unique pictorial world, on the fringes of the dominant movements. He produced understated, powerful work, imbued with both metaphysical concern and humour, which went beyond notions of abstraction and figuration by his critical construction of the painting's surface, with varied yet coherent iconography and a very confident use of colour.

François Dilasser was born and died in Lesneven, and the paintings brought together this summer at the Manoir de Kerlaouen reflect both the early manifestations of a world finally conquered (early 1970s) and his final works (2003-2007). Beginning with blue, he was to return to blue, that of the sea and the sky.

From 1947, Dilasser devoted himself to painting regularly, whenever he could find the time away from his professional obligations, his role as provider, and caring for his family. HIs early works were heavily influenced by Picasso, then came the period dominated by the forms of the draughtsboard and grid patterns. In 1973 he produced a form clearly stating very personal work, distancing itself from the dominant context of contemporary painting as well as from that of the 1950s. At the other end of his work and life, when he was comfortable with and assured in his style, he once more paid homage to the masters, particularly Cézanne. His last paintings, echoes of a darkening horizon, shift between maritime landscape and the black clouds of a sky at dusk.

Between these two periods, like a manifesto, somewhere between a tool and a self-portrait, are paintings from the series of Mains (Hands).