Just by virtue of growing up in Menton, artist Steeven Salvat has had tremendous access to nature. The town, located in the south of France, is nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Alps, and boasts an exquisite array of landscapes peppered with insects, birds, and small animals. It should come as no surprise, then, that Salvat ultimately gravitated toward organic imagery in his own practice.
“Nature has always fascinated me, and observing living beings remains my greatest source of inspiration,” Salvat tells My Modern Met. “Drawing became a way to slow down, to look closely, and to better understand the fragile balance of the natural world.”
Today, the French artist is perhaps best known for his meticulously detailed portraits of animals, produced with very fine technical pens and Chinese ink. His process, he admits, is “slow and meditative,” mimicking engraving more than anything else.
“I then add watercolor or acrylic, depending on the piece,” he adds. “I developed this technique gradually, largely through self-teaching, guided by a strong attraction to detail and naturalist illustration.”
That commitment is palpable in Salvat’s art. These drawings capture how a wing unfolds, how an eye glints in the light, how talons arch against a tree branch—all with remarkable precision and care. But this sense of realism isn’t Salvat’s only concern. Lately, he’s found inspiration in vintage maps, charts, and globes, reimagining these antique objects as contemporary canvases upon which to draw birds.
“I source these vintage maps from antique dealers and flea markets,” Salvat explains. “They already carry the marks of time and history, and I like confronting this human memory with living, moving subjects.”
These multimedia works will soon be the subject of Salvat’s newest solo exhibition, Latitude/Longitude, at Galerie Hamon in Le Havre. The show contends with bird migration through the lens of “humanity’s desire to measure, map, and control the world,” per the artist. In his mind, navigation and cartography aren’t simply convenient or necessary tools for understanding our surroundings. Rather, they are what he calls “poetic tools [that] speak about movement, migration, and orientation,” especially during an era marred by increased climate catastrophe and, by extension, animal extinction.
“I like the idea that [these] pieces speak for themselves—creating a quiet poetry, a space where imagination, memory, and sensitivity can unfold,” Salvat says. “If my work can encourage viewers to pay closer attention to the fragile lines connecting nature, time, and human history, then it has fulfilled its role.”
Latitude/Longitude will open at Galerie Hamon on February 6, and will be on view through March 4, 2026. To learn more about the artist, visit Steeven Salvat’s website.
In his upcoming solo exhibition, French artist Steeven Salvat contends with bird migration through humanity’s desire to control the world, especially amid climate change.
Latitude/Longitude will open at Galerie Hamon in Le Havre on February 6, and will be on view through March 4, 2026.
