Christophe Blain (*10.8.1970, Gennevilliers, France) is one of France's most renowned comic authors and an exceptionally versatile artist who masters all tonalities between sparse, quick ink drawings and subtly impasto painting. His typical figurative and perspective exaggerations, developed from his great drawing skills, lend his panels a captivating vitality and dynamism.
After his early series "Isaac le pirate", "Socrate le demi-chien" and "Gus", published by Éditions Dargaud, attracted a great deal of attention, he surprised his readers in 2010 with the first part of "Quai d'Orsay", in which he reworked the memoirs of a former advisor to Dominique de Villepin about his turbulent time at the French Foreign Ministry into a biting political satire that was unflattering to the foreign minister's alter ego. The book became a bestseller and was made into a film by Bertrand Tavernier in 2013. In the same year, Blain won the prize for the best graphic novel at the Angoulême Festival for the second volume of "Quai d'Orsay" - as he had for the first volume of "Isaac le pirate" in 2002. In 2019, Christophe Blain will have the honour of publishing the first part of a tribute to "Lieutnant Blueberry" created in collaboration with Joann Sfar, taking a fresh look at the classic western comic by Jean-Michael Charlier and Jean Giraud.
Christophe Blain's latest book is a sophisticated non-fiction comic. With Jean-Marc Jancovici, a leading expert on energy and climate, he takes on the role of an interested layman in "Le monde sans fin", published in 2021, to tackle the equally urgent and complex debate on the possibilities of climate-friendly energy production.
The extensive retrospective of Christophe Blain at the Cartoonmuseum Basel shows the artistic development and all facets of the French comic star - from sketchbooks to paintings in various techniques.
Vernissage: Friday, 7 November 2025, 6.30 pm
Press conference: Thursday, 6 November 2025, 11 a.m.
Curator: Anette Gehrig