Discover the contemporary work of Neel

It was opposite the entrance to the Port of Le Havre that I was born Lionel Floch on July 27, 1956, a stone's throw from the André Malraux Museum, which was then under construction. The youngest of six children, we lived on the 4th floor of a building built by Auguste Perret after the war. The Museum became a space for games and discovery, just like the seafront, an extension of my home, where I spent hours sitting in "Adam's Eye", an emblematic sculpture of the place, watching the maritime traffic go by. • As a very young child, I became a regular visitor to the Museum and discovered the play of colours of light trapped in 18th and 19th century glassware, the works of Boudin, Monet, Dufy, Courbet and in particular Hubert Robert's work "The Fire of Rome". Finally, Cordier's bronzes fascinated me, particularly the light that emerged from this dark material. • Later, at the age of sixteen, I was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre with a portfolio of drawings and gouaches. At the age of twenty, I won a competition to design a luminous fountain for the City of Le Havre and Mr. Jean Maufay, painter and professor at the School of Fine Arts, entrusted me with the creation of an 8m X 3.50m fresco for the Hotel des Yachts. My first exhibition as part of the "Young Painter" Competition took place alongside Mr. Jean Maufay at the Hamon Gallery in Le Havre. Finally, I obtained the National Diploma of Fine Arts in 1977

It was opposite the entrance to the Port of Le Havre that I was born Lionel Floch on July 27, 1956, a stone's throw from the André Malraux Museum, which was then under construction. The youngest of six children, we lived on the 4th floor of a building built by Auguste Perret after the war. The Museum became a space for games and discovery, just like the seafront, an extension of my home, where I spent hours sitting in "Adam's Eye", an emblematic sculpture of the place, watching the maritime traffic go by. • As a very young child, I became a regular visitor to the Museum and discovered the play of colours of light trapped in 18th and 19th century glassware, the works of Boudin, Monet, Dufy, Courbet and in particular Hubert Robert's work "The Fire of Rome". Finally, Cordier's bronzes fascinated me, particularly the light that emerged from this dark material. • Later, at the age of sixteen, I was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre with a portfolio of drawings and gouaches. At the age of twenty, I won a competition to design a luminous fountain for the City of Le Havre and Mr. Jean Maufay, painter and professor at the School of Fine Arts, entrusted me with the creation of an 8m X 3.50m fresco for the Hotel des Yachts. My first exhibition as part of the "Young Painter" Competition took place alongside Mr. Jean Maufay at the Hamon Gallery in Le Havre. Finally, I obtained the National Diploma of Fine Arts in 1977