Pierre Soulages | |
|---|---|
 Soulages in 2019 | |
| Born | Pierre Jean Louis Germain Soulages 24 December 1919 Rodez, France |
| Died | 25 October 2022 (aged 102) Nîmes, France |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Spouse |
Colette Llaurens (m. 1942) |
| Awards | |
Pierre Jean Louis Germain Soulages (French: [sulaʒ]; 24 December 1919 – 25 October 2022) was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. In 2014, President François Hollande of France described him as "the world's greatest living artist."[1] His works are held by leading museums of the world, and there is a museum dedicated to his art in his hometown of Rodez.
Soulages is known as "the painter of black", owing to his interest in the colour "both as a colour and a non-colour. When light is reflected on black, it transforms and transmutes it. It opens a mental field all its own." He saw light as a work material; striations of the black surface of his paintings enable him to reflect light, allowing the black to come out of darkness and into brightness, thus becoming a luminous colour.[2][3]
Soulages produced 104 stained-glass windows for the Romanesque architecture of the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy in Conques from 1987 to 1994. He received international awards, and the Louvre in Paris held a retrospective of his works on the occasion of his centenary.
- ^ Schofield, Hugh (24 June 2014). "The president and the 'greatest living artist' in the world". BBC. Archived from the original on 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ "Pierre Soulages: Beyond black". www.christies.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ "Pierre Soulages, France's 'Beyond Black' painter, dies at 102". france24.com. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.