Peinture, 290 x 520 cm, 22 Mai 2002

  • 2002
  • Pierre Soulages
  • Oil and acrylic on canvas
  • Quadriptyque - Dimensions totales 290.0 x 520.0 x 0.0 cm

Works from 1999 to 2003, painted in acrylic, comprise a series of large horizontal bands separated by narrow white bands of canvas; irregularities appear where black and white meet. Pulled in all directions, the viewer’s gaze does not settle on a specific point but travels from one edge of the painting to another.

© Adagp, Paris, 2019 © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage

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Pierre Soulages

Pierre Soulages began his abstract body of work in the post-war years, using Expressionist gestures and dark colors. In the 1950s he began exhibiting around the world, notably in New York; since then, his work has been met with unanimous acclaim. 

For Soulages, black is both an obsession and a quest. Reflected light plays a dominant role in his work, where material creates texture— contrasts that give surfaces a rough quality. Soulages speaks of single-pigment painting rather than monochrome painting. In 1979, he began a new phase, which he termed “outrenoir” (beyond black), that focused on the depth of black and its relation to light. A meditative dimension is omnipresent in his work, arising from his interest in Zen and Asian cultures.

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