Robert Combas

As early as 1981, Robert Combas had in fact joined the Free Figuration movement – an expression invented by the artist Ben and whose first exhibition took place in a Parisian apartment the same year. He originally designated a few dozen artists officiating in the 1980s, to finally restrict himself to the group formed by four friends: Combas, François Boisrond, Hervé di Rosa and Rémi Blanchard. Although devoid of any common aesthetic program or dogmatic straitjacket, the “group of four” is nevertheless driven by a common aspiration: to bring art back to the public and to the concrete, to initiate a split with the hermetic and intellectual inflection that marked the 1970s – with minimal and conceptual art in mind – and, finally, to advocate a deliberate return to figuration. Despite obvious stylistic differences, the various members of Figuration libre will all take a new look at contemporary and popular culture, imagery, advertising or other images that feed their production, inspiring them with explosions of colour and staging of singular characters or objects.

A symbolic figure of contemporary French art, sometimes considered a veritable icon, Robert Combas occupies a prominent place in the art market, the results of which he regularly achieves at Aguttes are an eloquent illustration. Thanks to the dynamism of its experts and a keen interest in him, the contemporary art department at Aguttes regularly offers for sale the works so recognizable by this popular artist, which have become a classic at auctions.