Paul Guy Gantner was born in 1948 in Seoul and was instantly drawn to color and shape. By 12, he was trying to paint his own universe. Mostly self-taught, he fell in love with the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists and moved to France to study their work up close. Provence and the Midi form the backdrop of most of his paintings, and the narrow winding streets of mountain villages highlight the solitude that drives his art. His pieces are all about absence, framed by walls of stone that play with light and shadow.

Even when he’s not painting these village alleys, the themes of emptiness and isolation remain. Rooted in Impressionism, Gantner merges line and color in a way that settles the old Poussiniste-Rubeniste debate. His revisit to Giverny to depict Monet’s bridge and waterlilies shows a shift from Monet’s free-flowing brushstrokes to a more deliberate, line-oriented approach to color.