Naked Man Near Ruins, Paul Mantes 1970/80

Young naked man in a landscape of ruins, oil on canvas from the 70s by the painter Paul Mantes. From the sale of Paul Mantes' studio in 2011 by the auction house Ader in Paris.
The painting represents a dreamlike architectural landscape, mixing elements of ancient ruins with an environment that seems unreal or surreal. In the background, we can see columns and a monumental pink arch, as if they were the remains of a temple or an ancient city partly submerged or suspended in an enigmatic space.
The columns and the arch have pinkish hues, while the sky or the background tends towards a gray-blue. This palette gives an atmosphere that is both soft and slightly melancholic.
In the foreground, we see a naked figure, seated, his knees folded against his chest and his head tilted towards the ground. This posture is directly inspired by Hippolyte Flandrin's painting (see photo) that Paul Mantes incorporated into this dreamlike landscape.
Several pinkish columns are partially broken, evoking ancient architecture. A half-collapsed arch sits in the background, creating a deep perspective.
We can also see what looks like a wall or a facade on the left, reinforcing the idea of ruins or an abandoned city.
The ancient ruins and the unreal perspective recall the metaphysical universe of certain surrealist painters such as Giorgio de Chirico where classical architecture serves as a backdrop for scenes full of mystery.

Paul Mantes Second Grand Prix de Rome for painting, Paul Mantes taught at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and at the Boulle school. A DPLG architect, he has designed buildings, villas, administrative buildings and in particular projects to put the La Défense district into perspective. An exceptional painter, Paul Mantes graduated top of the Paris School of Fine Arts and won the second Grand Prix de Rome.
After a career as a DPLG architect, he returned to his first vocation: painting. A hard worker, meticulous and persevering, he was accepted into the very closed world of copyists at the National Museums, notably the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay. This is how he reproduced around thirty major paintings that allowed him to become known to a few insiders, when a television producer preparing his film on Vincent Van Gogh was not allowed to film the original painting. It was a magnificent copy of a self-portrait of the artist developed by Paul Mantes that was chosen and toured the world.
Paul Mantes' personal work includes numerous copies of originals from the Louvre and Orsay museums, magnificent "trompe l'oeil" paintings, and a remarkable personal work: "Imaginary Cities", "Lost Paradises", "Dream Visions", incredible Palladian visions of ruined metropolises, solitary cathedrals, with sometimes surprising baroque paintings of religious inspiration.