Œuvres de la Collection Garance Primat | Works from the Garance Primat Collection
With an essay by Garance Primat. Preface by Frédéric Lenoir, texts by Bérengère Baucher
Racines | Roots is a vibrant art book reflecting the unique vision of a passionate philanthropist, collector, and entrepreneur. Garance Primat unveils a selection of works drawn from the heart of her aesthetic and spiritual journey. For her, art is a life-sustaining force: deep roots nourish our being and link us to nature, allowing us to flourish like a tree. Born into a family responsive to nature and art, she has honed her eye through contact with different cultures during her travels, particularly in Australia and the United States, where she became aware of how everything in the realm of nature was interconnected. This quest inspired her to acquire the Domaine des Étangs in Charente Limousine.
With its ability to question the world and shape the future, contemporary art occupies a special place in her eclectic collection, which offers interactions with modern art from around the world, minerals, and wisdom-bearing objects. Garance Primat invites us to trust her sensibility as we explore the universal, where words struggle to grasp the interconnectedness of living things. An original message emerges from the “root” of things, awakening a shared consciousness.
This book, built around the etymology of seven key words linked to nature and the universe, is an invitation to let ourselves be carried away by the senses and discover the invisible links that unite us.
Under the guidance of Garance Primat, the Domaine des Étangs in Charente Limousine now welcomes visitors, who come to enjoy art, science, and the environment together. Taking over almost 1,000 hectares of unspoilt countryside that include forests, meadows, ponds, and permaculture gardens, Garance Primat has developed a holistic approach that is committed to preserving biodiversity, promoting rural heritage, and sustaining the arts. The thirteenth-century château and its outbuildings have been restored using traditional skills and local materials, and now host artworks, residencies, exhibitions, and retreats for contemplation. At the heart of this enterprise is contemporary art collection that has grown like a poetic echo of the nature that surrounds it. Adopting as its emblem the dragonfly – a herald of metamorphosis – the Garance Primat Collection has now amassed more than one thousand works that eagerly create links between the major artists of the twentieth century, such as Yves Klein and Pablo Picasso, and the most influential figures in contemporary art: Lee Ufan, Tomás Saraceno, Alicja Kwade, Ólafur Elíasson, Anselm Kiefer, and Richard Long.
Bérengère Baucher is the commissioning editor at Presses de la Cité. She holds a PhD in French literature and worked as a teacher-researcher before spending ten years at Éditions Le Robert, first as a lexicographer and then as literary director alongside Alain Rey.
Frédéric Lenoir, philosopher and sociologist, holds a doctorate from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). Author of around fifty works translated into some twenty languages, he also writes for the theatre, television (documentaries) and graphic novels. In 2016, he co-founded the foundation and the association SEVE, Savoir Être et Vivre Ensemble, and in 2017 he created the association Ensemble pour les Animaux. In 2024, he founded La Maison des sagesses with the aim of disseminating philosophical knowledge understood as an art of living, in the sense in which the Greeks conceived it.
Exhibition: Fondation Opale, Lens-Crans Montana, Valais, 21 December 2025 – 12 April 2026
