PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 130 x 117 cm, 21 septembre 2018
Black is before light. Before light, the world and its things were in total darkness. With light were born colors. Black is before them. Also before each of us, before being born, ‘before having seen the light of day.’ These notions of origin are profoundly buried in us. Is it for these reasons that black touches us so powerfully?
—Pierre Soulages
Peinture 130 x 117 cm, 21 septembre 2018, a recent example of Pierre Soulages’s Outrenoir series, features a column of glossy, horizontal strokes of black paint adjacent to a matte expanse. The leftmost strokes have been applied at different angles such that the light source transforms the composition. Soulages employs black for its singular ability to absorb or emit light in ways that constantly shift in step with the viewer. This effect exemplifies the artist’s pursuit of the timeless essence of painting, leading philosopher Alain Badiou to deem him a “Platonic painter” whose works probe the enduring truths of existence.
PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 130 x 117 cm, 21 septembre 2018
2018
Acrylic on canvas
51 3/16 x 46 1/16 inches (130 x 117 cm)
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris