Laurence Durieu (born in Ixelles in 1972, lives and works in Meise, Belgium) develops an evolving body of paintings conceived as an expanding narrative. Through the recurring figures of a single family, she explores the ecological, social, cultural, and geopolitical transformations shaping our time, while questioning how humans and non-human beings coexist, adapt, and imagine possible futures.
Inspired by her own family yet freed from any strictly documentary dimension, the characters reappear from one painting to another, becoming the protagonists of a broader story in which intimate experience, collective memory, and observations of the contemporary world intertwine. Past, present, and future often coexist within the same image, transforming family history into a reflection on memory, transmission, and our relationship to time.
Working primarily in oil on large-scale canvases, Durieu constructs carefully orchestrated scenes set in familiar domestic spaces—homes, living rooms, and family tables—that function as contemporary stages. At first glance, these scenes appear peaceful. Yet beyond the apparent calm, signs of a changing world emerge: floods, intensive agriculture, wildfires, migration, armed conflict, environmental disruptions, and social transformations. These elements are woven subtly into the composition, creating a tension between everyday life and the upheavals unfolding around it.
Animals play a central role within this narrative universe. Birds, cats, and rats often appear as silent observers, messengers, or sentinels, embodying a heightened awareness of the living world and its fragile balance.
Durieu’s work is also shaped by an ongoing dialogue with cultural memory. Fragments inspired by artists such as Jérôme Bosch, Dieric Bouts, and Paul Delvaux, as well as references to The Little Prince, discreetly inhabit her paintings. These presences create connections across time, allowing past and present to coexist within the same pictorial space.
Each painting functions as an autonomous chapter while contributing to a larger narrative in constant expansion. Through this body of work, Laurence Durieu develops a form of contemporary mythology in which family stories become a space for reflecting on coexistence, adaptation, and the futures we are collectively creating.
Alongside these narrative paintings, she develops a body of drawings and smaller works centred on birds and plants. Situated between observation and imagination, these works celebrate the beauty, fragility, and resilience of the living world.