Born in Quebec City in 1964, Denis Nolet began, with the enthusiasm of an enthusiast, specialized studies in pictorial expression from the age of nine. These studies lead him to experiment with several styles of expression, and then move towards the careful representation of urban scenes. He achieved great success by selling paintings in the Old Capital, which allowed him to make a living solely from his art from the age of 20. While producing at a steady pace, he studied visual art at Laval University.
Denis Nolet prefers the mystery of the night to the rays of the sun, which explains his penchant for the colors he uses. Night owl himself, it is while people sleep that the artist works. Between him and the world of sleep is created a complicity from which he knows how to take advantage. He loves to exploit this moment when the pace of life slows down in nature. He paints a poetic world in which the harmony of forms bathes in rest and serenity.
His paintings are saturated scenes of the romanticism of the night. With a brush evocative in the manner of Seurat and a palette of infinite hues, Denis Nolet creates a mirage of his medium in which he seems to transform oil painting into soft, smooth fabric.
The section of Old Quebec was his onsite school, he says he learned more by being out on the street than sitting in a classroom. ``I removed the streets from what was cluttering them, he says. What was open to my gaze was the urban universal and a hymn to the night. It was the romantic secret and a certain idea of human nature. It was beautiful."