The flow of vision and imagination Sir Christopher Le Brun in focus

 In this film, Sir Christopher Le Brun reflects on the role of drawing within his distinguished artistic practice and its fundamental place in society. He discusses how drawing allows an idea to emerge and often becomes the starting point for a painting, showing both small sketchbook studies and larger abstract works.

Le Brun considers drawing to be a fundamental human activity that can speak to people of any age. Describing his approach as fluid and lyrical, he compares the qualities of a painting to those of a musical composition. Rather than beginning with a fixed image, he works through what he calls the flow of enjoyment, vision and imagination. 

Biography 

Sir Christopher Le Brun (b. 1951, UK) is one of the leading British painters of his generation, celebrated internationally since the 1980s, making both figurative and abstract work in painting, sculpture, and print. He was an instrumental public figure in his role as President of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2011 to 2019. Since 1990 he has served as a Trustee of major British institutions at Tate, National Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery, National Portrait Gallery and was a founding Trustee of the Royal Drawing School. He was awarded a Knighthood for services to the Arts in the 2021 New Year Honours.

Le Brun trained at the Slade and Chelsea Schools of Art, London. In his early career, he was a double prize winner at the John Moores exhibitions (1978, 1980), also showing in the Venice Biennale (1980) and the ground-breaking exhibition ‘Zeitgeist’ (1982) at the Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin. His work is in many museum collections including Tate, London, UK; Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; British Museum, London, UK; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; Le Brun’s public sculptures include ‘Union (horse with two discs)’ at the Museum of London; City Wing on the site of the original London Stock Exchange and ‘The Monument to Victor Hugo’ in St Helier, Jersey.

Recent solo exhibitions include Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France (2025), Lisson Gallery, Beijing, China (2024); Albertz Benda, New York, USA (2023); Lisson Gallery, London, UK (2022); Red Brick Art Museum, Beijing, China (2021); Lisson Gallery, Shanghai, China (2019); Southampton City Art Gallery, UK (2018).