The Influence of Music on My Painting Process
By Sebastien Montel
In my studio, silence is never truly silent. There’s always a faint hum, a rhythm pulsing beneath the surface of my thoughts. Music is not a backdrop for me; it’s a collaborator.
Every painting begins with a sound. Sometimes it’s the low, steady tempo of ambient music. Other times it’s something raw and unpredictable, a live performance, a film score, or even the rhythm of a passing train. That sound shapes the emotional landscape of my work.
As a contemporary expressionist painter, I rely heavily on the interplay between sound and gesture. The act of painting, much like music, is about rhythm, about knowing when to move and when to pause. In the Palm Springs and Los Angeles art scenes, where stillness and energy coexist in tension, that rhythm feels amplified. The desert’s silence makes every note, and every brushstroke, feel intentional.
I’ve always believed that painting is a form of choreography. The brush becomes an instrument; the color, a note. When I paint, I often find myself responding to musical phrasing, the crescendo of a song dictating the intensity of a stroke, or a moment of quiet leading to restraint.
In these moments, I’m not just painting what I see; I’m painting what I hear.
This relationship between sound and image connects deeply to the psychology of color in art. Just as a minor chord can evoke melancholy, muted tones can carry emotional depth. Vibrant hues, reds, oranges, and golds, can feel like a chorus. Cool blues or greys can echo silence, reflection, even loss.
My layering process mirrors musical composition, one layer of paint interacting with another like overlapping melodies. These layers build tension and harmony, creating the kind of emotional resonance that defines modern expressionist art for collectors who seek more than surface beauty.
Ultimately, music keeps me grounded in feeling. It bypasses logic and invites intuition. And in that intuitive space, between sound and silence, I find the honesty my paintings need.