The Belgian artist Philippe Geluck became famous thanks to his character "the Cat". Guest of Europe 1 Sunday, he described how his passion for museums had revealed his vocation. Today, his iconic feline is as much a way of paying homage to his elders as of transmitting his love for art to the youngest.

INTERVIEW

Twenty monumental sculptures of the Cat should have stood proudly on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, on the occasion of an exhibition scheduled for early April to mid-June. But the coronavirus epidemic has decided otherwise. The Belgian artist Philippe Geluck is undoubtedly more pained by the closure of places of culture, he who defines himself as "a museum rat" since the age of 5 years. Guest of Europe 1 Sunday, he shared his love for excursions in the midst of canvases and watercolors.

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"When I was little, there was the museum of ancient art, Egyptology, natural sciences ... I lived in a street between all these museums. Every Wednesday afternoon, my mother took me away." From his childhood in Brussels to his life as a recognized artist, the designer of the "Cat" has retained this passion, transmitted by his parents. The latter were both willing to initiate him into the joys of the ancient arts or impressionist painting.

"The 'Chat' is the transmitter"

Through the character who made him famous, Philippe Geluck has always sought to pay homage to his elders and models and to transmit his passion. "I started painting the 'Cat' in large format, making canvases and sculptures. I make some 'in front' of major artists." The designer describes in particular his tributes to Picasso or to the master of the over-black Pierre Soulages. To the latter, now centenary, he said he offered a drawing of the 'Cat': "I learned that my drawing was hanging in his living room," he says proudly. "After that I can die quiet."

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The 'Chat' has become for him a way to reach a younger audience to make them appreciate the work of the great masters. Recalling an exhibition at the Musée en Herbes, in Paris, where his illustrations were exhibited alongside famous works, he sums up: "The 'Cat' was the transmitter. [The children] laughed with the 'Cat' and understood better the gait of a Fontana. "