About David Rycroft’s paintings

Contemplating luminosity and natural splendour

David Rycroft’s paintings offer us a timeless experience of pristine, natural realms where vibrancy and harmony pervade. 

Being immersed in a landscape where all the elements sparkle and flourish invites contemplation, bringing stillness and uplift to the mind. 

For the artist, painting is a way to share a living experience of natural vitality with the viewer. 

“The dynamic beauty of nature’s elements - sunlight, water, rocks, trees, sky - is supremely precious. My canvases are a celebration of this natural vitality, and of our ability to appreciate the wonders of nature.”

David Rycroft

Artist Bio

David Rycroft is an international contemplative painter exhibiting in galleries in Montpellier,  London, Paris and Cambridge. He lives in southern France in a historic village on the Herault river, in the Terres d’Hérault UNESCO Global Geopark. From his studio, opening onto the village square lined with plane trees, Rycroft regularly hosts workshops and talks. He also leads retreats inviting participants to explore the relationships between painting, philosophy and meditation.

Born in 1969, Rycroft was educated at Eton College before studying art history at Edinburgh University. Aged 19, Rycroft had one of his portraits - influenced by Lucian Freud whom he had recently interviewed - selected for showing at the National Portrait Gallery. As a student he also met Howard Hodgkin and was influenced by the power and freshness of Hodgkin’s painterly language to communicate human feeling. 

Rycroft taught art in London for ten years until 2005 when he moved to France. UNESCO presented an exhibition of his paintings in Paris in 2011 celebrating humanity’s precious relationship with the biosphere. From 2012 to 2020 he painted panoramic plein-air cityscapes in France, including Paris, La Rochelle and Montpellier. Since covid, Rycroft is dedicating himself to the pristine beauty of the natural world. 

Painting mainly in southern France (with occasional trips to the Himalayas) Rycroft uses close observation of the natural world as inspiration. From this basis, and informed by his passion for both art history and contemplative philosophy, his quest is to evolve compositions that both pacify and enrich the mind. The process is always an exploration of the key principles behind his work – wonder, balance, natural vitality and spacious presence. 

Quotes

“David Rycroft’s paintings articulate a cultural vision grounded in the interdependence of nature and people. Through a vibrant use of colour and a harmonious sense of composition, his work reflects the essential relationship between human experience and the ecosystems that sustain it. His paintings open us to a deeper appreciation of the vitality, diversity, and richness of our planet, reminding us that nature’s beauty is something to be highly respected.”

Meriem Bouamrane, UNESCO

David Rycroft’s work is part of a long artistic tradition. His recent compositions evoke the classical landscapes of Poussin, Canaletto and Turner, whilst the fluidity of his brushstrokes is reminiscent of Monet’s Impressionism and, in some cases, David Hockney’s later landscapes.

In his panoramic oil-on-canvas works (150 x 90 cm), David Rycroft captures the ever-changing urban landscape. The ‘wide-angle’ compositions, imbued with a knowledge of classical landscape, simultaneously convey a sense of spaciousness, vibrant luminosity and classical balance. His paintings celebrate the elegance of architecture and our place within the city.

Céline Demarcq, Musée Fleury, Musées de France

I have followed David Rycroft's work with interest over the last fifteen years, from its origins in life drawing, through abstraction, to its present concern with space and colour. The works in this recent series are the product of a technical breakthrough, which has unlimited potential.

Whether their imagery suggests landscape or other forms, these 'unpainted' pictures - unpainted in the sense that the artist, instead of using a brush, drags the support over the medium - evoke a cosmic dimension, which is truly liberating.

Richard Calvocoressi, Director Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1987-2007

Selected Exhibitions

Solo shows

2025 Ici, comme en Arcadie, Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier
2025 Chateau de Pégairolles de l’Escalette
2023 L’Hérault Flamboyant, Maison du Grand Site, Gorges de l’Hérault
2023 L’Hérault Flamboyant, Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier
2021 Arbres de lumière, Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier
2020 La Luminosité des Arbres, La Commanderie des Hospitaliers
2018 Espace et Luminosité, Panter & Hall, London
2015 Galerie Metanoia, 75004 Paris
2013 Galerie Metanoia, 75004 Paris
2013 Villa Mauresque, St. Raphael
2012 L'Atelier, Montpellier
2011 UNESCO, Paris
2008 Dzogchen Beara, Ireland
2007 Spitz Gallery, London
2006 Spitz Gallery, London
2005 Spitz Gallery, London
1994 Bury St. Edmunds Cathedral, Suffolk

Group shows

2020 Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier
2019 Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier
2017 Panter & Hall, London
2016 Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier
2016 Prix du jury, La Ville de La Rochelle
2015 Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier
2015 Byard Art, Cambridge
2014 Prix du jury, Maison d'Europe, Montpellier
2014 Galerie de l'Ancien Courrier, Montpellier
2014 Byard Art, Cambridge
2010 Panter and Hall, London
2009 Carrières sur Seine, France
2009 Byard Art, Cambridge, UK
2007 Celeste Art Prize, London (top 40 in on-line vote)
2007 Byard Art, Cambridge
2007 Stark Gallery, Canterbury
2006 Byard Art, Cambridge
2006 Maison de Europe, Montpellier
2005 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, The Mall Galleries, London
1993 Spectator Art Award, Christie’s, London
1992 Laing Landscape Competition, The Mall Galleries, London
1990 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London