Pierre Soulages

Pierre Soulages 1919 - 2022 Peinture 81 x 60 cm, 2 mai 1957. 1957. Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right. Signed and dated, as well as inscribed “ARIEL” and “1507” in handwriting, on the stretcher. 81 x 60 cm (31.8 x 23.6 in). • ICON OF FRENCH POST-WAR ART Honored as the most significant French representative of post-war abstract painting with a solo exhibition at the Louvre in 2019 —an honor previously bestowed only on Picasso and Chagall. • KEY PERIOD Created during the pivotal 1950s, when Soulages developed his distinctive visual language and achieved his international breakthrough— documenta in 1955 and 1959. • COLOR CONTRAST Deep black and luminous reddish-brown combine to form a dynamic composition of extraordinary depth. • FORESHADOWING OUTRENOIR The intense exploration of black, light, and surface effects already foreshadows the Outrenoir style developed beginning in 1979. • RARITY Significant paintings from the 1950s are highly sought after internationally and rarely appear on the international auction market. PROVENANCE: Private collection, Southern Germany. From a Swiss corporate collection (2012, Ketterer Kunst). EXHIBITION: Galerie de France, Paris, 1957. LITERATURE: Pierre Encrevé, Soulages. L'œuvre complet. Peintures, vol. 1, 1946–1959, Seuil, Paris 1994, CR no. 300 (with color illustration). - - Ketterer Kunst, Munich, Auction 393, Postwar/Contemporary Art, September 6, 2012, lot 219 (with color illustration). “When we speak of light, I am interested in the mental field the observer touches. It concerns everything that takes place in our imagination or within us.” Pierre Soulages in an interview with Heinz-Norbert Jocks in: Kunstforum International, vol. 141, 1998, pp. 250ff “Oh, so you’re the painter of those big black paintings. They’re the highlights of the salon. Francis Picabia, 1947 Called up: December 4, 2026 - ca. 18.24 h +/- 20 min.

Estimate:£834,332

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