François Burland (b. 1958)

Burland was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1958. He had a hard time in school, where he spent most of his time drawing secretly. After a difficult childhood, he entered psychotherapy as a young adult, and soon after he began to paint.

Burland’s art is instinctive and spontaneous, like a contemporary version of archaic nomadic expression. Similar to many artists of his generation, Burland is inspired by mythological legends; mixing antique sources with modern literature and ethnology. There are many references in his art to the holy grail, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the myth of Perseus, Celtic mythology, as well as Indian and aboriginal cultures. He is fascinated by the rituals and mysticism of primitive man, wartime civilizations, nomadic peoples and the discovery of Tuareg in the Sahara.

Burland’s artwork is in numerous significant private and public collections around the world, including the Museum de Stadshof (The Netherlands), the Musée de L’art Brut (Lausanne), the Du Mont Kunsthalle (Cologne), the Rosa Eastmann Gallery (New York) and the Los Angeles County Museum (California).