In his workshop nestled between nature and light, Philippe Versi shares his canvases, his pigments, and the emotion of the painted gesture.
In Salernes, Philippe welcomes visitors to the workshop he built with his own hands, right next to the family home and the kitchen garden. Here, painting is born in calm, between earth and light. He welcomes guests as one opens a notebook: simply.
Here you discover his portraits — gazes captured in pastel — and his canvases crossed by universal symbols. The painter shares the gestures, colors, and silences that nurture creation.
Then comes the heart of the craft: assembling the stretcher, preparing the linen, rabbit-skin glue, gesso. He grinds his pigments, measures the linseed oil, prepares his colors. Everything is done by hand.
A peaceful interlude, on the border between nature and creation.
Philippe, +35 years of experience
Painter, Portrait Artist and Symbolist
Born in Cannes in 1961, I have been a self-taught painter for 35 years, with a deeply human and inspired path. Marked from childhood by his parents’ separation, he grew up with his maternal grandparents, in a simple and happy atmosphere. His connection to art is naturally rooted in his family background, as both his great-grandfather and his uncle were painters themselves.
After exploring drawing and sport, it was at the age of 20 that painting became an obvious calling. His first portrait, painted in 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 technique.
In 1993, following personal work in sophrology, he began a shift toward symbolist painting, deeply connected to emotion and memory. Since then, he has never stopped painting, creating more than 600 works combining portraits, inner visions, and universal symbols.
« I paint above all out of passion, often in a creative bubble where time fades away. »
Nature is a kind of anchor where I draw my ideas from this green haven; painting and nature are inseparable, a kind of creative pairing.
Always curious, I explore new techniques (airbrush, pigments, stretcher and color making), pursuing with humility and determination 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.
Just a few steps from the family home, the workshop is lined with trees, flowers, and a kitchen garden. You enter it as you would a natural extension of everyday life, between silence, tools, canvases, and light.
It is a place of unvarnished creation, without staging. A real, lived-in workshop, open to those seeking more than a painting: a way of inhabiting the world.
Provence & Côte d’Azur guide
Hilltop villages, the Frioul Islands, craft ateliers and heritage places: find Valentia experiences gathered to prepare your next discovery in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
Requirements:
The desire to learn
An interest in what hands tell
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.