Claire Tabouret (French, born 1981) is a contemporary figurative painter based in Los Angeles, known for emotionally charged artworks that explore identity, transformation, and memory. Working with a fluid, hydrous palette that shifts between cosmetic artificiality and earthy tones, her paintings balance intimacy and unease, blending realism with dreamlike distortion. Drawing on vintage photographs, magazine imagery, and personal references, Tabouret creates portraits that feel both timeless and psychologically immediate.
Her intuitive painting process emphasizes states of becoming, with figures often depicted through costume, makeup, or expressive color that signal moments of transition. This focus on metamorphosis positions her artworks within a contemporary reinterpretation of the figurative tradition. Alongside her paintings, Claire Tabouret produces limited edition prints that extend her practice into collectible formats, making her distinctive visual language accessible through signed art editions. Her artworks are held in major international collections, including LACMA, the Pinault Collection, ICA Miami, and the Columbus Museum of Art.
“There is a brazen intimacy with these self-depictions, but also a sense of remove or alienation. With these works, Tabouret places herself in a lineage of women painters who have produced bravura self-portraiture… Tabouret offers us the means to slip inside her gaze — we gain access to our selves through her gaze.”
— Joachim Pissarro, MOUSSE Magazine, 10.12.2021
