Raphaël Barontini, Le griot de l'éternel, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim.
At the Palais de Tokyo, how Raphaël Barontini invents a Caribbean court portrait
After taking over the Panthéon in 2023 and orchestrating a Caribbean carnival for the last Nuit Blanche, Raphaël Barontini is now exhibiting paintings, embroideries, sculptures, and costumes at the Palais de Tokyo. It’s a vibrant encounter with an artist who reinvents the European court portrait to restore voices and faces to forgotten Caribbeans. At the Panthéon, it was David Bowie and his 1977 hit Heroes that had inspired Raphaël Barontini with a powerful title—above all, a message as clear as crystal, as the artist sought to honor Black figures by portraying them in monumental pictorial compositions.
This time, “Somewhere in the night, the people dance” comes from the writer Aimé Césaire (1913–2008). The phrase hints at the feverish energy that drives the artist—an energy that inspires a dynamic form of painting, expressed in various formats, including embroidery and costumes activated during performances.
Excerpted words written by Maïlys Celeux-Lanval for Beaux Arts.
