This rising painter reimagines Renaissance art in a cocoa plantation in Cameroon
Marc Padeu, a 36-year-old Cameroonian painter, is gaining international attention for reworking Renaissance religious masterpieces within the setting of a cocoa plantation in his home country. Rather than depicting European saints and biblical figures, Padeu places Black plantation workers at the centre of scenes exploring universal themes such as birth, death, sacrifice and hope, following in the tradition of artists like Kerry James Marshall, who inspired him to restore Black bodies to the canon of classical painting.
Padeu, from Bafang in Cameroon's West Region and now based in Yaoundé, spends months mentally preparing each work before painting begins, photographing non-professional models separately over long periods and then reconstructing entire scenes in his studio. His notable pieces include "The Blue Virgin", inspired by Velázquez's Coronation of the Virgin, and "The Blue Man of Njombé", based on Caravaggio's The Incredulity of Saint Thomas. Trained at Cameroon's first government-funded art school and shaped by his fashion-designer mother and earlier work painting church murals, his exhibition "Memento Vivere" is currently showing at London's Larkin Durey gallery until 14 August 2026.
- Cameroonian artist Marc Padeu reworks Renaissance paintings using cocoa plantation workers
- His art recasts Black bodies at the centre of classical religious scenes
- Exhibition "Memento Vivere" runs at London's Larkin Durey gallery until 14 August
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Marc Padeu is a Cameroonian painter who has been drawing attention for his large-scale works that borrow the composition and religious symbolism of European Renaissance and Baroque masters, but transplant them into the setting of a cocoa plantation in his home country. In place of European saints, he paints Black plantation workers, using their everyday lives to explore themes such as birth, death, sacrifice and hope that appear across many of the original paintings he references.
Padeu, aged 36, grew up in Bafang in Cameroon's West Region and now works from Yaoundé. He trained at Cameroon's first government-funded art school and earlier painted murals for churches, and he has spoken of being influenced by artists such as Kerry James Marshall, who worked to bring Black figures more fully into the tradition of Western classical painting.
His approach involves long preparation, including photographing ordinary people rather than professional models over extended periods before combining these images into finished studio compositions. Works such as "The Blue Virgin" and "The Blue Man of Njombé" rework specific paintings by Velázquez and Caravaggio respectively, and a selection of his work is currently on show at Larkin Durey gallery in London.