lit a candle 2h agomy art teacher in Montgomery had a print of his hanging in the studio, some quiet street scene from Vertiges ordinaires, and she told us that was the whole point of good art, making the ordinary hit you like that. just found out he passed at 69. still think about that print.
Their story
Pierre Collin was a French painter, engraver, illustrator and sculptor whose work moved between fine-art printmaking and the visual language of comics. Born in Paris on 27 September 1956, he died in Vannes on 15 September 2026 at the age of 69. The Academie des beaux-arts announced his death the…
Pierre Collin was a French painter, engraver, illustrator and sculptor whose work moved between fine-art printmaking and the visual language of comics. Born in Paris on 27 September 1956, he died in Vannes on 15 September 2026 at the age of 69. The Academie des beaux-arts announced his death the same day, noting that he had been elected to its engraving and drawing section in 2018.
Collin studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris from 1975 to 1980 and then spent two years as a resident artist at the Casa de Velazquez in Madrid. From 1983 he exhibited regularly in Paris, including at Galerie Biren and Galerie Lacouriere-Frelaut, and abroad in Washington, D.C., and Madrid. He received an Ile-de-France regional grant in 1985 and is listed in the Benezit Dictionary of Artists. On his mother's side he descended from the Luton family, a detail recalled when fellow academician Erik Desmazieres spoke at Collin's installation under the Coupole.
He married the draughtswoman and sculptor Corinne Veret. In 1999 the couple settled on the Presqu'ile de Conleau near Vannes in Morbihan, a landscape that fed his later series on ordinary places and everyday vertigo. Critics and catalogues often placed his practice at the crossing of engraving and bande dessinee. In 2008 the Musee du dessin et de l'estampe originale in Gravelines presented Vertiges ordinaires, a major show of his work that treated familiar rooms and streets with the pressure of copperplate and the pacing of comics panels.
On 25 April 2018 Collin was elected to the Academie des beaux-arts, taking fauteuil IV in the engraving section previously held by Rene Quillivic. He delivered Quillivic's eulogy at his formal reception under the Coupole on 1 December 2021. In Brittany he and Corinne showed landscapes together at the Musee des beaux-arts de Vannes, and local media filmed interviews with the couple about their crossed lines of drawing and sculpture.
The Academie's perpetual secretary Laurent Petitgirard and its members announced his death with deep sadness on 15 September 2026. Collin leaves a body of paintings, prints and illustrations that tied academic craft to the vernacular of comics and to the Morbihan coast he made his home for more than twenty-five years.
Biography adapted from English and French Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); Academie des beaux-arts death notice and member materials; Unidivers; ActuaBD; Simplifia; Benezit Dictionary of Artists.
In their own words
“Le secretaire perpetuel, Laurent Petitgirard, les membres et correspondants de l'Academie des beaux-arts ont la grande tristesse de faire part du deces de leur confrere Pierre Collin, survenu le mardi 15 septembre 2026 a l'age de 69 ans.”
Photos
3Pierre Collin, member of the Academie des beaux-arts
by People Forever
Works by Corinne and Pierre Collin at the Musee des beaux-arts de Vannes
by People Forever
Exhibition view of Corinne and Pierre Collin landscapes in Vannes
by People Forever
that copper plate work stays with you, RIP