Pierre Soulages facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pierre Soulages
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Soulages in 2019
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| Born | 24 December 1919 Rodez, France
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| Died | 26 October 2022 (aged 102) Nîmes, France
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| Occupation | Painter |
| Spouse(s) |
Colette Llaurens
(m. 1942) |
| Awards |
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Pierre Soulages (born 24 December 1919 – died 26 October 2022) was a famous French artist. He was known for his paintings, prints, and sculptures. In 2014, the President of France called him "the world's greatest living artist." His artworks are displayed in top museums around the world. There is even a museum just for his art in his hometown of Rodez, France.
Soulages was often called "the painter of black." This is because he was very interested in the color black. He saw black as both a color and a "non-color." He believed that when light shines on black, it changes and becomes something new. He used light as a material in his art. By making lines and textures on his black paintings, he could reflect light. This made the black seem to come out of darkness and become bright, almost like a glowing color.
He also created 104 stained-glass windows for the old Romanesque Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy in Conques, France. He worked on these from 1987 to 1994. Soulages received many international awards. The famous Louvre Museum in Paris even held a special show of his art when he turned 100 years old.
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His Early Life
Pierre Soulages was born in Rodez, France, on 24 December 1919. His father, Amans, made carriages and ran a hunting and fishing shop. Pierre's father passed away when Pierre was only five years old. Pierre was then raised by his older sister, Antoinette, and his mother, Aglaé.
As a child, Pierre was fascinated by the large standing stones, called menhirs, in his area. He also loved the ancient Celtic carvings in the local museum. The old Romanesque church in Conques also caught his eye. Pierre often wore all black clothes, which his mother did not like.
Starting His Art Career
Pierre Soulages was inspired by famous artists like Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso. He started studying art at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris. But he soon left because he didn't like the old-fashioned way they taught art.
After serving in the military during wartime, he studied more at the Fine Arts School of Montpellier. There, he met his future wife, Colette, and they got married in 1942. He opened his own art studio in Paris. He started painting in a style called "complete abstraction," where black was the main color. He also experimented with walnut oil in his paints.
His first art show was in 1947. He also designed sets for plays. In 1954, his art was shown at the Venice Biennale in Italy and in New York City. This helped him become well-known in the United States. His works were part of important shows in New York, like "Younger European Painters" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1953) and "The New Decade: 22 European Painters and Sculptors" at the Museum of Modern Art (1955). In 1979, he became an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Famous Black Paintings and Windows
From 1987 to 1994, Soulages created 104 stained-glass windows for the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy in Conques. He made about 700 test pieces for these windows at a factory in Germany. An art dealer once explained how these windows were like his paintings. The dealer said Soulages studied how light would break apart as it passed through the glass. When you see the light in the church, it creates a beautiful, harmonious explosion of light. This is what he tried to do with his black paintings too. He wanted to capture light in a way that made you feel something deep inside.
Soulages was the first living artist ever asked to show his work at the famous Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Later, his art was also shown at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 2001.
In 2007, the Musée Fabre in Montpellier opened a special room just for Soulages' art. He had given the city twenty of his paintings, made between 1951 and 2006. These included important works from the 1960s and large "plus-black" paintings from the 1970s. A big show of his art was held at the Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou in Paris from 2009 to 2010.
In 2014, the Musée Soulages opened in his hometown of Rodez. This museum was built to permanently show his art and to host other modern art shows. Soulages and his wife gave 900 of his artworks to the museum. These paintings show all the different stages of his work, from his early post-war pieces to his special "Outrenoir" style. It was the most complete collection of his first 30 years of work. Soulages wanted some space in the museum to always be used for other artists' works, and this is still done today.
In 2019, a big exhibition was held in New York before a special show at the Louvre Museum in Paris. This Louvre show celebrated his 100th birthday. In 2021, one of his paintings sold for over $20 million at an auction, setting a new record for his art.
His Special Way of Painting
Soulages once said, "My tool is not black but the light reflected from the black." He called his unique way of painting Outrenoir, which means "Beyond Black." His paintings are known for their deep black look. He created this by making light reflect off the texture of the paint. Soulages invented the word 'Outrenoir' because he needed a new term to describe his work. He started this style when he was 60 years old. He explained that "beyond black" is like a different country from black itself.
Soulages' fascination with black started long before he began his 'Outrenoir' work. He was inspired by prehistoric art and wanted to create something pure and simple. He said that for thousands of years, people went into the absolute black of caves to paint with black. He found that the light reflecting from a black surface made him feel certain emotions. He noted that his paintings are not just one color. He found it interesting and moving that light could come from a color that is supposed to be the absence of light.
He applied paint in thick layers. Soulages used tools like spoons, small rakes, and pieces of rubber to work on his paintings. He would scrape, dig, or etch the paint to create smooth or rough surfaces. The texture he made would either soak up or push away light. This broke up the flat black surface. He often used strong vertical and horizontal lines, creating cracks and shapes with angles. In his later work (around 2013-2014), he started mixing different types of black paint, like matte and glossy, and different thicknesses of pigment.
He preferred to hang his paintings like walls, using wires to place them in the middle of a room. He said, "I always liked paintings to be walls rather than windows." He felt that a window looks outside, but a painting should make us look inside ourselves.
Soulages' paintings do not have special titles. They are simply called "Peinture" (which means "Painting"), followed by their size and the date they were made. For example, his painting 17 December 1966 shows his bold black brushstrokes on white canvas. His artworks were always hung without frames in exhibitions.
His Personal Life
Pierre Soulages married Colette Llaurens in 1942. They did not have any children. In 2017, the couple moved permanently to their summer home in Sète.
Pierre Soulages passed away in Nîmes on 26 October 2022. He was 102 years old. He was survived by his wife, Colette, whom he had been married to for 80 years.
Where to See His Art
You can find artworks by Pierre Soulages in many museums, including:
- Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris)
- Honolulu Museum of Art
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
- Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
- Musée Soulages (Rodez)
- Museum of Modern Art (New York)
- Museum of Modern Art (Rio de Janeiro)
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York)
- Tate Gallery (London)
Awards and Recognition
Pierre Soulages received many important awards, such as:
- Carnegie Prize (United States, 1964)
- Grand Prix for Painting (Paris, 1975)
- Rembrandt Award (Germany, 1976)
- Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1979)
- Grand prix national de peinture (France, 1986)
- Praemium Imperiale for painting (Japan, 1992)
- Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (2006)
- Prix Julio González (Valencia, 2006)
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (Paris, 2015)
- Grand prix du rayonnement français (France, 2019)
Images for kids
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17 December 1966 (1966), Honolulu Museum of Art
See also
In Spanish: Pierre Soulages para niños
