Pierre Soulages was the most valuable living french painter
- Pierre Soulages, a French painter, has died at the age of 102.
- Soulages was the third painter to be accepted into the Louvre while he was still alive.
- He made a lasting mark on the history of art because he was a master of black and light.
- In November 2019, he sold a painting in Paris for 9.6 million euros, which made him the most valuable living French painter.
Homage à Soulages - Dominique Dève
The master of "black and light"
The painter Pierre Soulages died at the age of 102. He was known for his paintings that were all different shades of black. Alfred Pacquement, a longtime friend of the painter and the head of the museum that bears his name in Rodez (Aveyron), told AFP, "It's sad news. I just got off the phone with his wife, Colette Soulages".
Soulages was tall and always wore black. Even when he was painting in other places, he never lost touch with his home country, Aveyron. He was a man who was loyal to himself, the landscapes of his childhood, the big plateaus, and his artistic search for light. He has stuck to his path for more than 75 years, earning praise from cultural institutions and the art market. This has made him one of the most highly regarded French artists still working today.
Pierre Soulages in 2014 - ©Illustration / Wikimedia commons
Pierre Soulages never stopped trying to figure out what this pigment and painting were all about during his whole life. "I like the authority of black, its weight, its obviousness, and its radicalism. Black has unanticipated possibilities," the artist, who was one of the few to have had the honor of the Louvre by his side while he was still alive, said in December 2019. "It's a color with a lot going on. When we put something black next to something dark, it lights up "In an interview with AFP, he told the truth.
A record sale to nearly 10 millions €
One of his paintings from 1960 sells in Paris for a world record 9.6 million euros just before his show at the Louvre at the end of 2019. This makes him the most expensive living French painter. The old record was $9.2 million, which was paid for a painting from 1959 that was sold in New York in 2018. "It just means that there are rich people who can buy works," he said in Le Monde. In May 2014, when he was 94 years old, he had the rare chance to attend the opening of a museum all about his work in his hometown of Rodez.
Soulage Museum, Rodez; Calips CC
A immense artist with a flawless career
Pierre Soulages was born on December 24, 1919, in a small, early-19th-century house. When he was only five years old, his coachbuilder father died. His mother took care of him and taught him how to fish and hunt. Early on, Soulages didn't like "pretty watercolor colors," so he painted trees in winter, with bare branches and snow effects, with ink.
During a school trip to the nearby Sainte-Foy de Conques abbey, the teen realized that he wanted to be a painter after seeing how beautiful this Romanesque church was. On the eve of World War II, Pierre Soulages was accepted into the Beaux-Arts school in Paris. But he didn't go to school. Instead, he trained in Montpellier. There, he met Colette Llaurens in 1941. A year later, he married her using fake papers to avoid the Compulsory Labor Service (STO), which made young French people work for Germany.
In 1947, the young painter moved to Paris, where Francis Picabia and Fernand Léger saw him and supported him. Back then, abstract art was very popular. It's red, yellow, and blue. Soulages chooses to work with painter's brushes and walnut husk, which is used to color wood.
Pierre Soulages in 2019 - NVP3D CC
In the 1950s, his paintings were shown in the world's best museums, like the Guggenheim in New York and the Tate Gallery in London. He meets the main artists of the New York School, including Mark Rothko, who becomes his friend.
The painter's work on chiaroscuro can be seen in his large canvases from the 1950s to the 1970s. Black stands out against other colors like red or blue, especially when the scraping technique is used. In 1959, Soulages had a house-workshop built on the hills of Sète, where he had always lived and where it looked out over the Mediterranean. He had two workshops in Paris, as well.
The artist who invented the "outrenoir"
The artist, who likes to work flat, switches to "outrenoir" in 1979. While working on a piece that is all covered in thick black, Soulages realizes that he has just taken a step by streaking it. It was just pure black pigment, but he was able to bring out the light.
"My painting pot is black. I was in an air that was beyond the dark. But what matters is the light, which is spread out by reflections, what matters is how the reflections change the light."
Pierre-Soulages
Jean Dubreil
