Photo: Hugo Lorini
Born in 1934, he began his artistic career in 1990, inspired by the islands and his travels in Asia.
The painter began with watercolour and developed a particular technique using the spatula, layering colours while playing with transparency.
Testimony
Madelinot painter Marco Lepage believes Quebec has just lost one of its great painters. “He was an astonishing painter, very creative, but at the same time a good businessman who managed to place his works all over the world,” says Lepage.
The drawings he executed spontaneously always reflected a truth in the attitude of his subjects, and he also had a strong sense of humour, Lepage reports. “When you look at the titles of his paintings, they are often very funny,” says the artist’s friend.
Aged 80, the artist was suffering from brain cancer.
A gathering will take place at his residence in Bassin, in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, on October 10. René Lemay’s funeral will be held in Sainte-Thérèse.