Jean-Paul Larçon

Emeritus Professor & Director, HEC Management School, Paris, France.   

“We have had the great pleasure to discover or rediscover the work of Sen Shombit, the French artist of Indian origin and the creator of Gesturism Art. Sen’s exhibition took place at the Espace Culture Rousseau in December 2016 in Barbizon, a village on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau, just outside Paris, where have been painting the pioneers of Impressionism in the 1830’s.

The painters of the Barbizon School, which were part of the movement towards Realism in art, included leading personalities such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Théodore Rousseau, Jean-François Millet, Narcisse Diaz de la Peña, and Charles-François Daubigny. Sen is said to have been extremely moved by Jean-François Millet’s (The Angelus) paintings when he first came to Barbizon. 

It is true that the atmosphere of the Fontainebleau forest and region has attracted many painters in recent history. 

Alfred Sisley, the impressionist landscape painter, is famous for his paintings of the River Thames, executed in 1874, but also for his landscapes of the nearby medieval village of Morêt-sur-Loing, on the other side of the Forest of Fontainebleau. 

Jean Cocteau has painted the reconstructed walls of a chapel in Milly-la-Forêt, a village located a few miles away from Barbizon, which origin goes back to the Knight Templars in 1136. The region is rich of medicinal plants, and the chapel embellished by Cocteau’s paintings is now known as the “Chapelle Saint-Blaise des Simples”. 

Sen’s exhibition in Barbizon gave us a new opportunity to be moved by the magnificent colors, the energy, la joie de vivre, as well as the sensuality which emanates from his paintings.

We have also been honored to be among the first to discover the new Renault Kwid Art car which was painted by Sen at the Renault’s Design Center in Chennai, India. It is a very unique work of art and the expression of an imagination oriented towards freedom and hope.

Thank you Sen, for this unique bridge between Impressionism and Gesturism, between Indian and French culture!

Patrice de la Perriere...

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Alberto Moioli...

Corinne Asseraf...

Renu George...

Clement Berges...

Philippe Douce...

Patrick Navarre...

Dr. Una Chaudhuri...

Sandip Sarkar...

INDIA’S BLOODY INDEPENDENCEIN 1947

When India was partitioned 1947 to create Pakistan, a new country for Muslims, about 20 million people of Bengal and Punjab were displaced and brutally victimized. Sen’s wealthy, literate family had huge landed property in erstwhile East Bengal, the present Bangladesh, which was carved out to be East Pakistan for Muslims. So for being Hindus Sen’s family was overnight evicted from their home. Without taking any possessions, they fled for their lives amidst people warring over religion, and so became squatted refugees in West Bengal.