In a post following the 2025 Fire, he wrote that he became an artist because of “how beautiful I found the natural world around me” and described the Palisades as “a magical place”.
Marc Dalessio, a Los Angeles-born artist who grew up in Pacific Palisades, has won one of the world’s most prestigious portrait prizes for a painting completed in his studio in southwest France.
The National Portrait Gallery in London named Dalessio the winner of the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026 for his 2025 work “Jean-Denis,” a portrait of his neighbor painted from life over six sittings. The jury praised the painting’s restrained technique, emotional depth and quiet authority.
Dalessio, 54, will receive £35,000 (about $46,000). His winning portrait and the works of 47 other shortlisted artists will be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery from June 25 through Oct. 7 before traveling to other venues in England.
A Pacific Palisades native, Dalessio has credited the natural beauty and landscapes of his childhood in the coastal enclave for inspiring his career as a painter. In an Instagram post following the devastating January 2025 Palisades Fire, he wrote that he became an artist because of “how beautiful I found the natural world around me” and described the Palisades as “a magical place to grow up,” with its cliffs, creeks and glades.
Dalessio trained at the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence and has taught sight-size painting internationally. He now lives and works in Gers, France, where he recently renovated a studio and resumed portrait painting from life using a limited traditional palette.
The award-winning portrait depicts his neighbor Jean-Denis in an elegant black coat and scarf. Dalessio painted the work using natural light and minimal photography, relying on direct observation and occasional video references when the sitter was unavailable.
