Alain Jacquet’s paintings from the past ten years or so have aroused a lot of curiosity, chiefly because a number of them (executed in his New York studio) provoke the viewer with their “excessive” realism. This series of “Terres” (Worlds, 1972–93), or “Peintures de visions” (Paintings of visions) was inspired by photographs of Earth taken from space by NASA. The series, particularly in the initial pieces, comes from one original work, The First Breakfast, 1972–78, a serigraph transfer on canvas, repainted in oil, of an image of the earth taken by the Apollo space mission in 1969.

The vision of