Béatrice COLS Belgian, b. 1953
Childhood, caught just before it slips away.
Béatrice Cols sculpts childhood.
A laugh, a game, a burst of energy, a moment of balance: her bronzes hold on to what usually passes too quickly.
After more than ten years as an advertising graphic designer in Brussels, she left that career in 1987 to devote herself entirely to art. Oil painting first, then clay and bronze, which became her true language.
She now divides her time between Brussels and Forcalquier, in Haute-Provence, where her studio stands.
Her sculptures range from small pieces to semi-monumental works, for interiors as well as gardens.
A graphic arts graduate of Saint-Luc in Brussels, Béatrice Cols worked for over ten years in advertising before leaving it all in 1987 to devote herself to creating. She began with oil painting, exploring light, colour and movement. Then came clay, and with it sculpture: this would be her language.
Since then she has had only one subject: the child. Where many are content to depict children, she captures their energy and their attitudes — a swinging leg, a tilted head, two friends sharing a secret. Her titles say as much, lightly: "Cache-Cache", "Attends-moi", "Conciliabule", "Inséparables". Each sculpture is at once intimate and universal.
Her bronzes are cast using the lost-wax process in editions of no more than twelve: eight casts and four artist's proofs. Her patinas, in the natural tones of earth and clay, give her figures a softness that extends the modelling.
Several Belgian towns have installed her sculptures in public spaces, where her bronze children have become part of daily life.
Provence holds a special place in her journey. In 2004 she opened Galerie Passere in Forcalquier, an exhibition space and meeting place for artists. In 2015 she set up a new studio there, below the citadel, facing the Luberon and the Alps. She likes to quote Jacques Brel: "Talent doesn't exist. Talent is wanting to do something."
Art Thema has worked with Béatrice Cols for nearly ten years and develops her work in the South of France, notably with the Cécile Chiorino gallery. Recent exhibitions:
- 2026: Vivre Côté Sud, Aix-en-Provence; S'MART, Aix-en-Provence; Fine Art Fair, Wavre
- 2025: Sculpture garden with Galerie Cécile Chiorino, Aigues-Mortes; Vivre Côté Sud, Aix-en-Provence; S'MART, Aix-en-Provence; Fine Art Fair, Wavre and Leuven
- 2024: Fine Art Fair, Hasselt; Fine Art Fair, Wavre; summer exhibition, Château des Marres, Ramatuelle
- 2023: Brussels Fine Art Fair; Printemps des Arts, Carry-le-Rouet; group exhibition, Galerie Baldini Art Thema, Arles; Fine Art Fair, Wavre
- 2022: Fine Art Fair, Wavre; Antica Namur
Would you like to discover her work? We will show it to you by appointment, in Belgium, in the South of France, or in your own home.
-
A croquer (A treat on its own) -
Attends-moi (Wait for me) -
Au fil de l'eau -
Aujourd'hui -
Butterflies / Papillons -
C'est loin... -
C'était là -
Cache-Cache -
Carmencitta -
conciliabule -
Curieuse (Curious) -
Dribble -
Duetto I -
En pensant à Degas -
Inséparables -
J'ai trouvé (Just found) -
J'aime la vie! -
Je la vois -
Je serai capitaine -
Jeune fille à la tresse -
Julie -
Kazatchok -
L'école est finie -
La petite joueuse de boule -
La baigneuse -
La Ballade -
La coquette -
La jongleuse (the juggler) -
La Marelle -
La mouette (the seagull) -
La petite auto -
La petite bête qui monte -
La petite bronzeuse -
la ronde -
La Tresse -
la violoniste -
La-bas (Over there) -
Le cadeau -
Le grand secret (duo) -
Le temps des cerises -
Les enfants du ciel (Children of the sky) -
Les petits joueurs de billes (trio) -
Les trois grâces -
Libre -
Maman les petits bateaux -
Miles -
Mon trésor (my treasure) -
Montgolfière (Hot Balloon) -
Oups! -
Petite Pause (Little Break) -
Plongeuse -
Pour Toi... -
Printemps -
Quiétude -
Regarde ! -
Rêve Eveillé (Awaken Dream) -
Révérence -
Son chat -
Sur un Air de Flûte (On a Flute Tune) -
Vole!


