The Emotional Architecture of Portraiture
By Sebastien Montel
Portraiture has always fascinated me. For centuries, artists have tried to capture not only how a person looks but also who they are. As a French artist working in both Los Angeles and Palm Springs, I don’t approach the human figure as a perfect likeness to be preserved, but as an emotional structure, something layered, unstable, and deeply alive.
Faces as Emotional Maps
A portrait is more than a face; it’s a map of lived experience. When I paint, I’m not seeking a photographic resemblance. Instead, I’m looking for the traces of feeling, the subtle cues that speak louder than words. This is where emotional art and psychological art merge: the human figure becomes a site where memory, identity, and perception overlap.
Distortion as Truth
In my work, distortion is not a mistake, it’s the truth made visible. By exaggerating a gesture, shifting proportions, or obscuring features, I create space for the viewer to feel the inner life of the subject. This distortion reflects the way we experience people in reality: not as perfect images, but as emotional impressions. That is the essence of expressionist art.
The Role of Materials
My process often involves layering oil, pencil, and fragments of newspaper to build texture beneath the portrait. This mixed media art approach gives the surface its own emotional weight. Each material adds a layer of meaning, suggesting that our identities are constructed from fragments, memories, experiences, and influences that never quite align.
Why Portraiture Endures
Even in today’s world of contemporary art, portraiture remains one of the most powerful forms of expression. We are drawn to faces because we see ourselves in them. Whether fragmented or whole, a portrait carries an immediacy that other subjects often cannot. It confronts us directly, asking us to feel, to reflect, and to recognize the humanity within the work.
Portraiture, for me, is not about likeness, it is about presence. It is the architecture of emotion, the structure of feeling made visible. And it reminds us that the human figure, in all its complexity, will always remain central to the language of art.