Pierre Soulages, the french artist Known as “the painter of black” for his abstract works and the predominance of this color, he died this Wednesday at the age of 102.
“Pierre Soulages passed away this Wednesday at the age of 102,” announced his own website in a brief message, confirmed by Christian Teyssedre, mayor of Rodez, the painter’s hometown, who expressed his “immense sadness.”
Pierre Soulages avait su réinventer le noir, en y faisant jaillir la lumière. Par-delà le noir, ses œuvres de su sont des métaphores vives où chacun de nous puise l’espoir. pic.twitter.com/4dxiCXCYy6
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 26, 2022
Born in 1919 in that southern town, Soulages was one of the most relevant and valued figures in contemporary French art. According to report of Ephwas particularly interested in the use of the color black and the reflections of light on this tone.
In this way, he extracted what he called “outrenoir” (beyond black), revealing a kind of luminosity from the dark. In addition to being a painter, Soulages was an engraver and sculptor.
The critics related him to movements such as tachism, informalism, abstract expressionism or lyrical abstraction, but he claimed not to feel included in any label, except the one created by him, the “outrenoir”.
His works have been exhibited around the world and, in 2014, his native Rodez opened a museum named after him.
On the occasion of his centenary, in 2019, the Louvre dedicated a retrospective to him and Soulages became the third living artist in history to have such a tribute in the Parisian museum (after Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso).
“I like the authority of the black man, his seriousness, his evidence, his radicalism (…). Black has unsuspected possibilities”, explained Soulages in December 2019, on the occasion of an exhibition at the Louvre, which opened its doors to him in life, in a rare recognition that he now cites Radio France International (RFI).
The report notes that shortly before that Louvre exhibition, Soulages broke his own auction record by selling a painting painted in 1960 for $20.2 million. According to the specialized press, he was among the most sought-after contemporary artists in the world.
With information from Efe and RFI.
