Gérard Garouste
A French painter who wrestles with myth, language, and personal demons on vast, chaotic canvases that challenge artistic tradition.
Born 1946 (age 80)·French painter·Birthday: March 10·Baby Boomers
Biography
Gérard Garouste emerged in the 1980s as a defiant figure in the French art scene, rejecting the conceptual trends of the time for a return to figurative painting charged with literary and philosophical depth. His work is a turbulent personal mythology, drawing from Dante, the Bible, and classical literature, often rendered with a frenetic energy that borders on the grotesque. Garouste's life has been marked by a public struggle with bipolar disorder, a reality he confronts directly in his art and writings. Beyond the canvas, he founded an association to bring art to marginalized communities, believing in its transformative power. His career is a testament to painting as a vital, urgent act of questioning the world and the self.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Gérard was born in 1946, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Gérard Was Born
The biggest hits of 1946
#1 Movie
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives
Gérard's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1946Born
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1951Started school
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1959Became a teenager
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1962Could drive
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1964Could vote
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Turned 21
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1976Turned 30
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1986Turned 40
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1996Turned 50
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 60
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2016Turned 70
Donald Trump elected president; Brexit vote
Gas: $2.14/galHome: $181,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Love Yourself" — Justin BieberBest Picture: Moonlight
2026Turned 80
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Founded the association 'La Source' in 1991, which uses artistic practice to help troubled children and young adults.
- Was commissioned to paint a ceiling for the Musée d'Orsay in Paris in 1986, a major honor for a living artist.
- Designed the stage sets and costumes for the opera 'The Marriage of Figaro' at the Théâtre du Châtelet in 1991.
- Had a major retrospective of his work at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 2001.
Did You Know?
He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris but was expelled for his rebellious attitude.
He worked as an assistant to the French artist Christian Boltanski early in his career.
He has openly written about his mental health struggles in his autobiography, 'L'Intranquille'.
He is a Knight of the Legion of Honour, France's highest order of merit.
““Painting is a way of thinking. It’s not an illustration of thought.””
