Coming from a family of artists, Donatien has always been emerged in painting and art since childhood. "Painting is above all a matter of educating the eye..."
After obtaining a baccalaureate in applied arts, Donatien entered the fine arts school of Le Mans in France, and then worked with a professional painter with whom he learned the techniques of oil painting and began to exhibit his art. The artist then traded his brush for the sword in ancient fencing shows for a period of more than 10 years, before deciding with his wife and two daughters to change their lives and leave France for the paradise islands of French Polynesia. Arrived on the island of Moorea in 2016, he immediately fell in love with the islands and their authentic and caring people whom he meets every day. Admiring all the colors, the light and all subjects so different from what he had known before, he once again took to his brushes and canvas. Beyond the extraordinary landscapes of Polynesia, it is above all the Polynesians people who made him want to paint again and to be, through his art, a witness to this joy of living that makes these scenes of local life, subjects to immortalize on canvas.
Most of his paintings are completed in his studio located on the edge of the lagoon in Moorea. But Donatien sometimes escapes to join the green nature of the interior of the island with his easel under his arm. He paints exclusively with oil paint, a technique that he particularly likes for its complexity, authenticity and nobility. Its supports are the canvas mounted on a frame or raw wooden planks that he prepares before painting.