Blue hour
Painting the Light of Water
Born from several journeys to Australia and Juliette June's move to the Basque Coast in 2015, this series explores the countless shades of blue that water takes on throughout the day. Fascinated by the echoes between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the artist developed an exploration of light, its reflections, and the bodily sensations it evokes.
The paintings bring together landscapes and memories of water—ponds, lakes, rivers, and the ocean—where the body sometimes appears, immersed in or illuminated by light. Created primarily in oil, they rely on glazes and layers of transparency to evoke a sensory experience rather than a faithful representation of the landscape.
A personal exhibition: Baths of light
26 May – 14 June 2018
BLEU la galerie • Saint-Jean-de-Luz
The first presentation of this body of work, Baths of Light brought together thirty-four paintings exploring the relationships between the body, water, and light. Spanning landscapes from the Dordogne to the Ganges, and from Australia to the Basque Coast, the works reflect a shared pursuit: painting the sensations left by immersion in a landscape.
Une seconde exposition personnelle: L’heure bleue
5 – 29 June 2019
Galerie Ateka • Bayonne
This second exhibition continued the exploration of the ocean's many shades of blue, focusing on the fleeting moment when daylight fades into twilight: the blue hour.
The opening featured a live drawing performance accompanied by the poem The Blue Hour. Filmed by Julien Darblade, the performance extended the paintings through a dialogue between drawing, poetry, and gesture.
« C’est une histoire de couleur. À l’heure où la lumière suspend sa ferveur pour laisser place au silence… »
Press Feature
In 2022, this exploration of light was featured in Artistes Magazine in an article titled "Juliette June: In Search of Light", written by Christian Charreyre.
Another Direction of Research
Produced as a risograph print, Point, Line, Plane extends the exploration initiated in The Blue Hour. Inspired by the Basque coastline, it investigates how landscape is constructed through line, rhythm, and colour.
