The island of painters
Saint-Martin boasts several art galleries and exhibition spaces. The brilliant light, the blue palette of the transparent waters and the colorful architecture feed the imagination of artists from all horizons. Painters, sculptors and ceramists from Saint-Martin and beyond, some of them world-renowned, draw on the Caribbean landscape and culture to invent new styles. Among other dynamic cultural venues, the lobby of the Hôtel de la collectivité (formerly the Hôtel de Ville) features an "Artists' Corner". Each month, a local artist installs his or her work there. Mathias Durand-Reynaldo, alias Coccinella, exhibited his work in 2007. Born in 1975 in Le Havre, he now lives in Saint-Martin. Sculptor, fashion designer and painter, he creates hyperrealistic figurative works from recycled materials, denouncing the lack of civic and ecological awareness.
Collectives of artists
Saint-Martin artists like to join forces. Since 2010, the HeadMade Factory collective has aimed to become a hub for contemporary creation on Saint-Martin. It works to bring new forms of art to the region. Through experiments combining dance and the visual arts, as well as conferences, artist residencies and exhibitions, HMF integrates itself into the society of its time. At its helm, visual artists and choreographers - Florence Poirier Nkpa, Peggy Oulerich, Cindy Choisy, Laurent Bayly - promote an art form in perpetual renewal. With their finger on the pulse of the international art scene, they aim to transcend the island's borders and the constraints of the tourist season. Their aim is to produce "a relationship with the world" using different media, in order to live fully in the world of contemporary Caribbean art.
The Art Lovers association, founded by Paul Elliott, aims to develop the visual arts through the creation of events. Open house weekends at artists' studios and the "Artists' Corner" event unite the local artistic community.
Selection of art galleries
The Amahoro gallery values eclecticism as much as quality. Afro-Caribbean art rubs shoulders with crafts, painting and jewelry. Photography also has its place in this exhibition space, featuring artists from different worlds: Laetitia Boulud, photographer and philosopher, and Jacques Zolty, who has lived in Saint-Barth for some thirty years and specializes in fashion and advertising photography.
Native artist Roland Richardson has set up his gallery in a 19th-century Creole house surrounded by a tropical garden, in the heart of Marigot. His dazzlingly colorful "Plein Air" art collection was created on site by the artist himself. A museum will soon open in the gallery that bears his name.
Galerie des Tropismes and Art Box offer permanent exhibitions by Antoine Chapon, who creates sculptures in wood and stone, as well as watercolor giclées and luminous oil giclées.
The Gingerbread Gallery was opened by Simone Seitre, a collector and dealer who discovered Haitian art before its international recognition. She worked with leading local galleries as well as directly with artists who became world-famous. Her son Simon has taken over her Marigot gallery. All schools and themes are represented, from rural life to voodoo worship, from naive to abstract art.
At the top of the hill, the Minguet Art Gallery hosts exhibitions by Alexandre Minguet and other Caribbean artists. For the record, Alexandre Minguet, the gallery's founder, lost the ability to speak between the ages of 18 months and 5 years following an emotional shock. This ordeal gave him an independence and a sense of observation that predisposed him to a career as a colorist. Today, his daughter has taken up the torch and proudly carries on his legacy.
A unique street art project
Faces of St Martin is a project launched in 2017 by the Collectivité de Saint-Martin. This deliberately ephemeral street art exhibition is renewed annually. For its second edition, on the theme of "Saint-Martin at work", eight photographers set off in the footsteps of Saint-Martiners at work, representing fifteen trades. These giant photographic portraits were displayed all over the city. Inspired by artist JR's "Inside out" project, the street art event paid tribute to the island's citizens through art: 147 portraits displayed in urban spaces of workers who decided to stay on to rebuild the island devastated by Irma. Their smiles and dazzling looks are an example to all passers-by.
Sint Maarten Museum
Housed in a traditional 19th-century mansion, the Sint Maarten Museum on Front Street exhibits, among other things, ancient coins, model ships, old photos and Arawak pottery. It is the only archaeological museum on the island since the closure of the one in Marigot. Several exhibits retrace the island's history, from the Arawaks to the conquistadors, then to the French, English and Dutch settlers, right up to the present day, with focuses on the salt industry, Hurricane Luis and even national heroes.
