Sophie-Yen Bretez

Biography

Emerging artist Sophie-Yen Bretez (b.1994, Vietnam) moved to France at a young age where she has lived and worked since. Originally self-taught, she earned a Grand École Master’s degree from NEOMA Business School in 2018, holding management positions in Paris while painting on the side. In 2023, following growing recognition and opportunities, she transitioned to working full-time as an artist.

Bretez’s work confronts the uncanny, merging autobiography and fiction to explore identity through narrative that is rendered through dream-like surrealist figuration. With an acute sensitivity to complex emotional states and often focusing on the human condition in moments of recovery, she frequently incorporates an illuminated horizon line, explaining, “I paint horizons for those who have suffered.” Her figures operate in semi-open settings bathed in light from a sunset or sunrise: both protective and vulnerable, Bretez’s spaces capture the human spirit of resilience and recovery.

Bretez’s figures, most often nude women, are marked by an unflinching agency that governs the terms of their own presence. She subverts a certain coyness and seduction traditionally projected onto the female form. The figures stare outwards, confidently asserting themselves. They do not invite our gaze through passive allure, but meet us directly, stimulating our active observation. In doing so, she contributes to an evolving conversation about the meaning of the gaze, aligning herself with generations of female painters and photographers who have challenged its dynamics.

Bretez is a natural storyteller. Before painting each work, Bretez composes a poem exploring memory, personal experience, or literary inspiration (such as the writings of French author Marguerite Duras). The titles of her works come from these poems, creating another layer of meaning to be deciphered by the viewer. Written text also features within her canvases, where newspapers and novels are common enigmatic motifs.

Her work has been widely exhibited and highly regarded in various publications, such as Forbes and Art Daily. Her capability for locating political and existential commentary in dreamlike environments is testament to her strength as a painter of complex human themes.

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Works

« It was already noon at the banquet of absence I set the table, stitched the menu everything was missing everything but life. », 2025 Sold
« A single embrace and it was the world, entire, its beginning, its end. », 2025
« As the sun broke the horizon I staked all my years what remains of the game? », 2025
« Before we knew there was silence the mountain spoke the water answered the world remembers for us. », 2025
« For a long time I ignored what the water knew the answer was beneath the surface I dove I almost knew. », 2025
« Half asleep half awake the eye remains the world insists - an impossible state. », 2025
« I carry the sun a caress out there an inward burn the work of light the stain of time », 2025
« I left the room without a sound, mistook the window for the door perhaps outside was already inside. », 2025
« I was starving before birth, Then the wind came , I ate, and my name was lost. », 2025
« It will take a lifetime to quiet the sea to forget what the leaves won’t. », 2025
« Sun beneath the glaze », 2025
« The sky slipped between two cards I said nothing I stayed at the table and noon had already gone. », 2025
« One day we will find a home Where the sound of silence, Outweighs the din of tears, Far from the violence of wine And shattered doors, Close by the ocean. - Hope as shelter. », 2023
« Rays of sun, dew of the sea Come! Come over my land! My surf-tormented shores Made of grains of golden sand, and thousands of silent roars. », 2023
« In one night they took from me What I have not yet Managed to find again. Left in the open sea, Holding back my tears With a bitter shamelessness. - First times. », 2022
« Taking care of each other, As the rain flows into, The sea and the spelt. I am nectar and honey, Pistil and flower - To be picked with gentleness. », 2022