In his workshop tucked between nature and light, Philippe Versi shares his canvases, his pigments, and the emotion of the painter’s gesture.
In Salernes, Philippe welcomes visitors into the workshop he built with his own hands, right next to the family home and vegetable garden. Here, painting is born in calm, between earth and light. He receives guests as one opens a notebook: simply.
There, visitors discover his portraits—gazes captured in pastel—and his canvases crossed by universal symbols. The painter shares the gestures, colors, and silences that nourish creation.
Then comes the heart of the craft: stretching the frame, preparing the linen, rabbit-skin glue, gesso. He grinds his pigments, measures the linseed oil, prepares his colors. Everything is made by hand.
A peaceful pause, on the border between nature and creation.
Philippe, +35 years of experience
Painter, Portraitist, and Symbolist
Born in Cannes in 1961, I have been a self-taught painter for 35 years, with a deeply human and inspiring journey. Marked in childhood by his parents’ separation, he grew up with his maternal grandparents in a simple and happy atmosphere. His connection to art is rooted naturally in his family background, as both his great-grandfather and his uncle were painter-artists themselves.
After exploring drawing and sport, painting became an obvious calling at the age of 20. His first portrait, painted as a tribute to a loved one who had passed away, marked a decisive turning point in his life. He then discovered the expressive power of black and white and adopted dry pastel as his preferred medium.
In 1993, following personal work in sophrology, he began shifting toward a symbolist painting style, deeply connected to emotion and memory. Since then, he has never stopped painting, creating more than 600 works blending portraits, inner visions, and universal symbols.
« I paint above all out of passion, often within a creative bubble where time disappears. »
Nature is a kind of anchor where I draw my ideas from this green setting; painting and nature are inseparable, a kind of creative pairing.
Always curious, I explore new techniques (airbrush, pigments, frame and color making), continuing with humility and determination along an artistic path rich in meaning.
Philippe Versi’s workshop is located in Salernes, one kilometer from the Ceramics Museum. He built it with his own hands, on his grandparents’ land. It is a simple, peaceful place, surrounded by nature.
A few steps from the family home, the workshop is lined with trees, flowers, and a vegetable garden. Entering it feels like stepping into an extension of everyday life, between silence, tools, canvases, and light.
It is an unvarnished place of creation, without staging. A real, lived-in workshop, open to those seeking more than a painting: a way of inhabiting the world.
Requirements:
The desire to learn
An interest in what the hands have to say
The wish to meet an artist in their daily life
Sincere attentiveness
Cancellation policy:
Free cancellation if more than 48 hours before the experience starts. Between 48 and 24 hours before, 50% of the amount is due. Less than 24 hours before, cancellation is non-refundable.