Pierre Soulages decided to become a painter at the age of 17 when, standing under the cavernous ceiling of a medieval church, he observed rays of sunshine filtering through the high windows, carving up the gloom below.  He has been revisiting that experience in his paintings ever since. Today, the abstract artist is considered to be France’s greatest living painter. At 103 years-old, he is internationally renowned for his ultra-black canvases, the surfaces of which capture and play with light in such striking ways that they appear animated and alive

“I like the authority of black. It’s an uncompromising color. A violent color, but one that encourages internalization. Both a color and a non-color. When light is reflected on black, it transforms and transmutes it. It opens up a mental field all of its own.”

 

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Introduction

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Born in Rodez in the south of France in 1909, Soulages was inspired by the region’s rich artistic heritage, from the Neolithic menhirs – large, ethereal standing stones, and some of the oldest in Europe – to the 20,000-year-old cave paintings in nearby Lascaux and Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc. He would balk at the rigid parameters that defined art, or in particular ‘great art’, reflecting on such as: ‘I have always revolted against this foolishly evolutionary conception of art which leads one to believe that there are at first awkward gropings, then that technique becomes more and more skillful and mastered, and that finally we arrive at the apotheosis of a perfectly imitative art. It must be said and repeated: there is no progress in art, only techniques that are perfected and which can lead you where you do not want to go. The painters of Lascaux or Chauvet brought art to a summit from the very start. Though it would be standing underneath the barrel vault ceiling of the famed Romanesque abbey, Sainte-Foy de Conques, that would ignite his desire to become a painter (he would return in 1986 to design windows for its renovation), his palette has never strayed far from the elemental reds, blacks and ochres used by the caves’ ancient magicians.

As Abstract Expressionism exploded across the world following the end of the Second World War, from its epicenter in New York to movements like Gutai in Japan and Dansaekhwa in South Korea, his early work would preempt this seismic shift in artistic production and bestow credence to the truth that Soulages has always been his own artist. No one is a prophet in his own country: salvation will come from elsewhere. As early as 1948, Soulages made his first breakthroughs in Japan, in the Scandinavian countries, in Germany, where one of his works was even chosen for the poster of the travelling exhibition Französische abstrakte Malerei, and in the United States, where James Johnson Sweeney became his ambassador. Thanks to the famous curator who worked at the MoMA from 1935 to 1946 and at the Guggenheim from 1952 to 1960, Soulages participated in the exhibitions Advancing French art in 1951, Younger European artists at the Guggenheim Museum in 1953 and The new Decade at the Museum of Modern Art in 1954.

“I saw that it was no longer black that gave meaning to the painting but the reflection of light on dark surfaces. Where it was layered the light danced, and where it was flat it lay still. A new space had come into being.”

Soulages’ attention to black has been a lifelong preoccupation for the artist, one that he has mined for over 70 years in his creative production, and since 1979 with exclusive devotion. It would be in April of that year where Soulages would achieve theoretic and existential breakthrough. Up to that point, he had used black in conjunction to color in order to elevate their brilliance, however after working on a painting only for it to be swallowed by black paint, he left it angrily; yet the next day, he saw it differently.

“I do not depict. I do not relate. I do not represent. I paint, I present.”

As always with Soulages, the date of the work is mentioned in the title after the technique and the dimension, as if to better remind us that the painting is made of space and time. He synthesized his work from 1948 by asserting that “painting is an organization of shapes and colors on which the senses that are attributed to it come to be made and unraveled, the viewer is the free and necessary interpreter”. He thus eliminates any personal interpretation of his art, any attempt to explain a work that is construed as devoid of any reference to the outside world, removed from the dilemma between figuration and non-figuration. The experience of the painting is entirely governed by its internal dynamics. His art can be resumed by his words:

“What I desire for my paintings is that there should be the minimum of ‘formal uproar’ around them, that they should be sufficiently isolated from other materials and colors so that a certain ‘plastic silence’ can be established, as we need silence in order to listen to music.”

Only Chagall and Picasso had benefited before him from a retrospective at the Louvre during their lifetime. A major figure of abstraction, Pierre Soulages is today celebrated as one of the greatest painters of the second half of the 20th century.

Soulages is perhaps more importantly a master of light. Ever since his first monochrome compositions of the 1940s, his paintings have shown a complex understanding of color and form. The artist frequently recalls a childhood episode when he was spreading black ink upon white paper. A friend of his older sister asked what he was painting; she laughed when he replied ‘snow’. He later surmised that he had been trying to render the white paper more white, luminous and snow-like via its contrast with the black ink.  Soulages works on the premise that our perception of color is dependent on its shape, density and consistency: as such, it lies beyond the limits of language.

Attention to black has been a lifelong preoccupation for Pierre Soulages, one that he has mined for over 70 years in his creative production, and since 1979 with exclusive devotion. Up to that point, he had used black in conjunction to color in order to elevate their brilliance. It all began with a moment of inattention, almost a failure: in April 1979, the artist is at work and, despite himself, he covers the entire canvas in black. There is no longer any play of contrast with another color, nor any effects of transparency or depth as was the case in the works of previous decades. Everything is black, only black. The artist is sixty years old that year, his work has a solidly established authority, both with international institutions and the art market, and yet he has just given a decisive turn to his work.

“I saw that it was no longer black that gave meaning to the painting but the reflection of light on dark surfaces. Where it was layered the light danced, and where it was flat it lay still. A new space had come into being.”

An Outrenoir invites those who confront it to cross a frontier, to venture forth into a realm beyond painting. Here, amidst the thick paste, in the manner of a sculptor, the artist digs a myriad of oblique grooves, creates ridges and imprints the brush and spatula with an entire geology that is sometimes accentuated, occasionally blurred by the light that is projected onto it. Black then sometimes becomes ebony in depth, sometimes iridescent and almost white, allowing an infinite variation of subtle tones to unfold between these two extremes. And depending on the lighting conditions and the position from which it is contemplated, an Outrenoir painting reflects an ever-changing reality, constantly renewing itself, leaving viewers to face the radical solitude of their point of view. Thus, we understand that Pierre Soulages is no longer the painter of black, he is the painter of light.

 

 

 

 

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Top Lots

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#1. Peinture 222 x 222cm, 15 mai 1987

Christie’s London: 3 October 2019
Estimated: GBP 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
GBP 2,771,250 / USD 3,410,769

Pierre Soulages (b. 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 222 x 222cm, 15 mai 1987
Oil on canvas, in two parts
Left: 222 x 85.2 cm (87.4 x 33.5 inches)
Right: 222 x 136.8 cm (87.4 x 53.9 inches)
Overall: 222×222 cm (87.4 x 87.4 inches)

#2. Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 25 mars 1990

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2021
Estimated: EUR 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
EUR 2,480,000 / USD 2,887,078

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 25 mars 1990
Oil on canvas (diptych)
222×222 cm (87.4 x 87.4 inches)

#3. Peinture 227 x 306 cm, 2 mars 2009

Christie’s Paris: 7 June 2018
Estimated: EUR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
EUR 2,407,500 / USD 2,849,517

PIERRE SOULAGES (NÉ EN 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (NÉ EN 1919)
Peinture 227 x 306 cm, 2 mars 2009
Oil on canvas, tryptich
227×306 cm (89 3/8 x 120 1/2 inches)
Signed, titled, and dated ‘SOULAGES “peinture 227 x 306 cm” triptyque 02.03.2009’ (on reverse)

#4. Peinture 85 x 222 cm, 18 avril 1991

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2022
Estimated: EUR 600,000 – 800,000
EUR 2,442,000 / USD 2,398,821

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 85 x 222 cm, 18 avril 1991
Oil on canvas
85×222 cm (33 1/2 x 87 3/8 inches)
Signed, dated and inscribed ‘SOULAGES Peinture 28 x 222 18 Avril 1991’ (on the reverse)

 

Auction Market Overview

COMING SOON

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2026 Auction Results

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2025 Auction Results

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#1. Peinture 202 x 143 cm, 14 août 2015

#2. Peinture 72,5 x 81 cm, 5 mai 1985

Sotheby’s Paris: 10 April 2025
Estimated: EUR 400,000 – 600,000
EUR 482,600 / USD 528,430
OUTRENOIR

Peinture 72,5 x 81 cm, 5 mai 1985 | Art Moderne et Contemporain Evening Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 72,5 x 81 cm, 5 mai 1985
Oil on canvas
72.5 x 81 cm (28 1/2 x 31 7/8 inches)
Signed and titled (on the reverse)

#3. Peinture 130 x 130 cm, 3 mars 2012

Christie’s Paris: 9 April 2025
Estimated: EUR 300,000 – 500,000
EUR 378,000 / USD 415,195
OUTRENOIR

Pierre Soulages (1919-2022), Peinture 130 x 130 cm, 3 mars 2012 | Christie’s

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 130 x 130 cm, 3 mars 2012
Acrylic on canvas
130 x 130 cm (51 1/8 x 51 1/8 inches)
Signed and titled ‘SOULAGES ”Peinture 130 x 130 03-03-2012”’ (on the reverse)

#4. Peinture 45 x 45 cm, 8 novembre 1990

Bonhams Cornette Paris: 4 December 2025
Estimated: EUR 250,000 – 350,000
EUR 356,000 / EUR 415,075
OUTRENOIR

Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr : PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022) Peinture 45 x 45 cm, 8 novembre 1990 1990

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 45 x 45 cm, 8 novembre 1990, 1990
Oil on canvas
45×45 cm (17 11/16 x 17 11/16 inches)
Signed, titled, dated 8.11.90 on the reverse
Inscribed ‘Pour Henri et Régine, leur ami Pierre. 24.12.94’ on the reverse

#5. Peinture 55 x 38 cm, 5 mars 1981

Property from an American Private Collection
Sotheby’s Paris: 3 December 2025
Estimated: EUR 80,000 – 120,000
EUR 317,500 / USD 365,735
OUTRENOIR

Peinture 55 x 38 cm, 5 mars 1981 | Modern and Contemporary Art | 2025 | Sotheby’s

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 55 x 38 cm, 5 mars 1981
Oil on canvas
55×38 cm (21 5/8 x 15 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 5 mars 81 (on the reverse)

 

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Lots Passed

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Peinture 130 x 102 cm, 18 janvier 2011

Ketterer Kunst Munich: 6 June 2025
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 900,000
OUTRENOIR
PASSED

Ketterer Kunst, Art auctions, Book auctions Munich, Hamburg & Berlin

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 130 x 102 cm, 18 janvier 2011
Acrylic on canvas
130 x 102 cm (51 1/8 x 40 1/8 inches)
Signed, dated and titled on the verso

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Lots Withdrawn

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Peinture 222 x 137 cm, 14 mai 2015, 2015

Peinture 181 x 162 cm, 6 juin 2007 (diptyque), 2007

Bonhams Cornette Paris: 5 June 2025
Estimated: EUR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
OUTRENOIR
WITHDRAWN

 

 

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2024 Auction Results

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#1. Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008

Sotheby’s Paris: 23 April 2024
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 889,000 / USD 950,598
OUTRENOIR

Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008 | Art Moderne et Contemporain Evening Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008
Acrylic on canvas
181×128 cm (71 1/4 x 50 3/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 30 MARS 2008 (on the reverse)

#2. Peinture 130 x 97 cm, 11 septembre 1981

Sotheby’s Paris: 23 April 2024
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 857,250 / USD 916,648
OUTRENOIR

Peinture 130 x 97 cm, 11 septembre 1981 | Art Moderne et Contemporain Evening Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 130 x 97 cm, 11 septembre 1981
Oil on canvas
130×97 cm (51 1/8 x 38 1/4 inches)
Signed (lower right)
Signed, inscribed and dated 11 Sept 81 (on the reverse)

 

 

 

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2023 Auction Results

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#1. Peinture 130 x 290 cm, 21 novembre 1990

Christie’s Paris: 7 June 2023
Estimated: EUR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
EUR 1,794,500 / USD 1,920,278
OUTRENOIR

Pierre Soulages (1919-2022) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 130 x 290 cm, 21 novembre 1990
Oil on canvas
130×290 cm (51 1/8 x 114 1/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘SOULAGES ”Peinture 130 x 290 cm 21 nov 90”’ (on the reverse)

#2. Peinture 91 x 181 cm, 26 décembre 2014

Christie’s London: 28 June 2023
Estimated: GBP 750,000 – 1,000,000
GBP 1,153,200 / USD 1,456,980
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 91 x 181 cm, 26 décembre 2014
Acrylic on canvas
91×181 cm (35 3/4 x 71 1/4 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘SOULAGES “peinture 91 x 181 cm” 26-12-2014’ (on the reverse)

#3. Peinture 138 x 181 cm, 26 novembre 2010

Christie’s London: 28 February 2023
Estimated: GBP 650,000 – 850,000
GBP 1,026,000 / USD 1,240,928
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 138 x 181 cm, 26 novembre 2010
Acrylic on canvas, in two parts
Overall: 54 5/8 x 71 5/8 inches (138.8 x 181.8 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘SOULAGES “Peinture 138 x 181 cm” 26 novembre 2010’ (on the reverse)

#4. Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 18 décembre 1988

Sotheby’s Paris: 13 October 2023
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 1,076,500 / USD 1,134,410
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 18 décembre 1988
Oil on canvas
81×102 cm (31 7/8 x 40 1/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 18.12.88 on the reverse

#5. Peinture 92 cm x 130 cm, 17 March 1991

Piasa: 13 December 2023
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 1,133,200 / USD 1,222,833
OUTRENOIR

Pierre Soulages (1919-2022) Peinture 92 cm x 130 cm, 17 March 1991 (piasa.fr)

#6. Peinture 81 x 63,5 cm, 7 mars 2003

Sotheby’s Paris: 5 June 2023
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 965,200 / USD 1,034,623
OUTRENOIR

Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 18 décembre 1988 | Modernités | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 81 x 63,5 cm, 7 mars 2003
Oil on canvas
81 x 63.5 cm (31 7/8 x 25 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 7 mars 2003 on the reverse

#7. Peinture 65 x 143 cm, 13 décembre 2008

Artcurial Paris: 7 June 2023
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 900,000
EUR 852,800 / USD 912,296
OUTRENOIR

Contemporary Art – Evening Sale | Sale n°4308 | Lot n°133 | Artcurial

Pierre SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 65 x 143 cm, 13 décembre 2008 
Acrylic on canvas
65×143 cm
Signed, dated and titled on the reverse

#8. Peinture 92 x 130 cm, 4 mai 2004

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2023
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 667,800 / USD 707,265
OUTRENOIR

Pierre Soulages (1919-2022) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 92 x 130 cm, 4 mai 2004
Acrylic on canvas
92×130 cm (36 1/4 x 51 1/8 inches)
Signed and titled ‘SOULAGES 92 x 130 cm 4 Mai 2004’ (on the reverse)
Signed and inscribed ‘soulages’ (on the stretcher)

#9. Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 20 mai 2007

Christie’s Paris: 6 December 2023
Estimated: EUR 500,000 – 700,000
EUR 630,000 / USD 680,116
OUTRENOIR

Pierre Soulages (1919-2022) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 20 mai 2007
Acrylic on canvas
117×130 cm (46 x 51 1/8 inches)
Signed and titled ‘SOULAGES ”Peinture 117 x 130 cm (20 05 07)”’ (on the reverse)

 

 

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2022 Auction Results

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#1. Peinture 85 x 222 cm, 18 avril 1991

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2022
Estimated: EUR 600,000 – 800,000
EUR 2,442,000 / USD 2,398,821
OUTRENOIR

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 85 x 222 cm, 18 avril 1991
Oil on canvas
85×222 cm (33 1/2 x 87 3/8 inches)
Signed, dated and inscribed ‘SOULAGES Peinture 28 x 222 18 Avril 1991’ (on the reverse)

#2. Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 2 juillet 2012

Sotheby’s Paris: 8 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
EUR 1,729,000 / USD 1,856,943
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 2 juillet 2012
Acrylic on canvas (triptych)
263×181 cm (103.5 x 71.2 inches)

#3. Peinture 102 x 165 cm, 16 novembre 1994

Sotheby’s Paris: 8 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 1,668,500 / USD 1,791,966
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 102 x 165 cm, 16 novembre 1994
Oil on canvas
102×165 cm (40.2 x 64.9 inches)

#4. Peinture 175 x 222 cm, 20 juillet 2020

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2022
Estimated: EUR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
EUR 1,482,000 / USD 1,455,795
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 175 x 222 cm, 20 juillet 2020
Acrylic on canvas
175×222 cm (68 7/8 x 87 3/8 inches)
Signed, dated and inscribed ‘SOULAGES Peinture 175 x 222 cm. 20.07.2020’ (on the reverse)

#5. Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 9 janvier 1989

Christie’s Paris: 1 December 2022
Estimated: EUR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
EUR 1,182,000 / USD 1,240,814
OUTRENOIR

Pierre Soulages (1919-2022) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 9 janvier 1989
Oil on canvas
130×92 cm (51 1/8 x 36 1/2 inches)
Signed and titled ‘SOULAGES ”Peinture 130 x 92 cm” 9 Janv 89’ (on the reverse)

#6. Peinture 81 x 100 cm, 20 février 1996

Sotheby’s Paris: 25 October 2022
Estimated: EUR 600,000 – 800,000
EUR 1,124,000 / USD 1,119,633
OUTRENOIR

Peinture 81 x 100 cm, 20 février 1996 | Collection Waller, l’Art en mouvements, Part I | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 81 x 100 cm, 20 février 1996
Acrylic on canvas
81×100 cm (31⅞ x 39 ⅜ inches)
Signed, titled and dated 20-02-96 on the reverse

#7. Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016

Phillips Hong-Kong: 22 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 7,500,000 – 10,000,000
HKD 8,115,000 / USD 1,033,762
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016
Acrylic on canvas
102×130 cm (40.1 x 50.1 inches)

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USD 1 million

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#8. Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 9 février 1987

Sotheby’s Paris: 6 December 2022
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 906,200 / USD 951,291
OUTRENOIR

Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 9 février 1987 | Art Contemporain Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 9 février 1987
oil on canvas
81×102 cm (31 ⅞ x 40 3⁄16 inches)

#9. Peinture 54 x 73 cm, 26 septembre 1981

Ketterer Munich: 10 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 400,000
EUR 685,000 / USD 720,597
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 54 x 73 cm, 26 septembre 1981
Oil on canvas
54.5 x 73 cm (21.4 x 28.7 inches)
Signed in lower right. Signed, dated “26.9.81 54 x 73” on the reverse
Additionally dated “26-9-81” and inscribed “3/82” on verso of the stretcher

#10. Peinture 45 x 57 cm, 7 janvier 2000

Ketterer Munich: 10 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 220,000
EUR 475,000 / USD 499,684
OUTRENOIR

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 45 x 57 cm, 7 janvier 2000
Oil on canvas
45.2 x 57.5 cm (17.7 x 22.6 inches)
Verso signed and dated

 

 

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2021 Auction Results

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#1. Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 25 mars 1990

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2021
Estimated: EUR 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
EUR 2,480,000 / USD 2,887,078

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 25 mars 1990
Oil on canvas (diptych)
222×222 cm (87.4 x 87.4 inches)

#2. Peinture 165 x 130 cm, 19 mars 2006

Christie’s Paris: 2 December 2021
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 1,460,000 / USD 1,650,836

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 165 x 130 cm, 19 mars 2006
Acrylic on canvas
165 x 130 cm (65 x 51.1 inches)

#3. Peinture 237 x 81 cm, 18 fevrier 1990

Christie’s Paris: 29 June 2021
Estimated: EUR 600,000 – 800,000
EUR 1,100,000 / USD 1,303,626

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 237 x 81 cm, 18 fevrier 1990
Oil on canvas
237×81 cm (93 1/4 x 31 7/8 inches)

#4. Peinture 72×57 cm, 9 avril 1994

Artcurial Paris: 8 December 2021
Estimated: EUR 600,000 – 800,000
EUR 895,400 / USD 1,010,381

Contemporary Art – Evening Sale | Sale n°4146 | Lot n°229 | Artcurial

Pierre SOULAGES
Peinture 72×57 cm, 9 avril 1994
Oil on canvas
72×57 cm
Signed, dated and titled on reverse

 

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2020 Auction Results

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#1. Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 20 septembre 2003

Christie’s Paris: 9 July 2020
Estimated: EUR 850,000 – 1,150,000
EUR 1,066,000 / USD 1,206,291

Pierre Soulages (b. 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 20 septembre 2003
Oil on canvas
130×92 cm (51.2 x 36.2 inches)

#2. Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 21 mars 2007

Christie’s Paris: 2 December 2020
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 956,000 / USD 1,158,787

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 21 mars 2007
Acrylic on canvas
117 x 130 cm (46.1 x 51.1 inches)

#3. Peinture 92 x 73 cm, 25 octobre 1987

Christie’s Paris: 21 October 2020
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 900,000
EUR 860,000 / USD 1,016,909

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 92 x 73 cm, 25 octobre 1987
Oil on canvas
92×73 cm (36.2 x 28.7 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘SOULAGES “Peinture 92 x 73cm 25.Oct.1987″‘ (on the reverse)

#4. Peinture 130 x 81 cm, 27 janvier 1981

Artcurial Paris: 8 July 2020
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 877,000 / USD 993,220

Results | Artcurial , Auction House for Modern Art, Classic Cars, Jewelry, Watches, Art Deco and more

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 130 x 81 cm, 27 janvier 1981
Oil on canvas
130×81 cm (51.2 x 31.9 inches)
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse

#5. Peinture 35 x 55 cm, 29 mai 1987

Christie’s Paris: 29 June 2020
Estimated: EUR 400,000 – 600,000
EUR 502,000 / USD 563,981

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 35 x 55 cm, 29 mai 1987
Oil on canvas
35 x 55 cm (13.7 x 21.6 inches)

 

 

 

 

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2019 Auction Results

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#1. Peinture 222 x 222cm, 15 mai 1987

Christie’s London: 3 October 2019
Estimated: GBP 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
GBP 2,771,250 / USD 3,410,769

Pierre Soulages (b. 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 222 x 222cm, 15 mai 1987
Oil on canvas, in two parts
Left: 222 x 85.2 cm (87.4 x 33.5 inches)
Right: 222 x 136.8 cm (87.4 x 53.9 inches)
Overall: 222×222 cm (87.4 x 87.4 inches)

 

 

 

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2018 Auction Results

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#1. Peinture 227 x 306 cm, 2 mars 2009

Christie’s Paris: 7 June 2018
Estimated: EUR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
EUR 2,407,500 / USD 2,849,517

PIERRE SOULAGES (NÉ EN 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (NÉ EN 1919)
Peinture 227 x 306 cm, 2 mars 2009
Oil on canvas, tryptich
227×306 cm (89 3/8 x 120 1/2 inches)
Signed, titled, and dated ‘SOULAGES “peinture 227 x 306 cm” triptyque 02.03.2009’ (on reverse)

Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 30 avril 1981

Christie’s Paris: 4 December 2018
Estimated: EUR 650,000 – 850,000
EUR 1,357,500 / USD 1,540,300

PIERRE SOULAGES (NÉ EN 1919), Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 30 avril 1981 | Christie’s

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 30 avril 1981
Oil on canvas
130×92 cm (51 1/8 x 36 1/4 inches)
Signed ‘soulages’ (lower right)
Signed, titled and dated ‘SOULAGES 30.4.81 130 x 92 cm’ (on the reverse)

 

 

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Outrenoirs “Black”

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Peinture 202 x 143 cm, 14 août 2015

Light dances across the black, glossy swathes of acrylic that comprise the surface of Pierre Soulages’ Peinture 202 x 143 cm, 14 août 2015, with its broad, overlapping bands creating delicate, sweeping ridges that continuously catch and reflect the changing light, shifting fleetingly with the slightest movement from the viewer or a subtle shadow. An exquisite late example of one of the artist’s celebrated Outrenoirs, the present work displays a mature culmination of a career spanning eight decades, and the artist’s mastery of light itself as a medium.

Outrenoir – loosely translated as ‘beyond black’ – was a term coined by Soulages to encompass the substantial body of work that exclusively defined the last 40 years of his life’s work. Born in Rodez in the South of France in 1909, the artist was inspired by the region’s rich artistic heritage, from Neolithic standing stones to nearby 20,000-year-old cave paintings, fascinated by the raw origins of primitive art and the idea of ancient man painting in darkness. He had also harbored a partiality for the color black from a very young age, and the combination of these two areas of interest underscores much of his oeuvre. For some time, black served as an important contrast to emphasize other pigments, in dialogue with other colours on the canvas. Then on one significant occasion in 1979 as he was working in his studio in Paris, he completely covered a much worked-upon canvas in black paint in a moment of frustration, eliminating any contrast or compositional arrangement. Returning to the work fresh in the morning light, it was only then that he realised that it was in fact the reflections of the light upon the painted surface that he was working with, as opposed to the colour itself. He’s often referred to this specific moment as a defining point in his practice, inaugurating a technique that would go on to shape his approach to painting for decades to come.

For Soulages, black is not the absence of color but a vehicle for every other imaginable color and radiating light, in a state of constant immutability and flux: ‘In his Outrenoirs, he obtains greys and flashes of white just by using the effects of the raised patterns in the gloss of the oil and, later, the acrylic surface. It is not a question of impressing the viewer with a multitude of dazzling reflections, but rather to draw the attention to discreet, contained phenomena. It is no longer a question of bringing out the contrasts of the confrontation between black and white on the canvas, but of presenting contrasts which shift with the viewer’s position […] It is the onlooker who feels looked at: the canvas and the viewer form part of the same space, he is included in the space of the canvas and it internalizes his position.’

J.M.W. Turner, Fishermen at Sea, 1796, Tate, London. Image: incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo

Such an intense study of the multiplicities of light and its compositional potential recalls the revolutionary work of J.M.W. Turner, whose emphasis on capturing the qualities of light and shade in his landscapes prefigured the work of the Impressionists, and whose daring compositions foreshadow the subsequent forthcoming shift towards abstraction. For Turner, whose radical later works in particular begin to move towards a rejection of figurative painting altogether, it was his leading approach to rendering the subtle atmospheric conditions and ethereal qualities of light that established him as such an influential artist, challenging the traditional boundaries of landscape painting at the time. Soulages takes this one step further, no longer focusing on just depicting light but actually incorporating the physical light of his surroundings into the work itself.

“The colors change when the light changes, or when the viewer moves. The paintings are alive, mutable and are recreated every second.” 

Like Turner, Soulages also used tools to scrape and manipulate the paint, creating structured, layered surfaces that interact with their environment, as well as his later use of acrylic resin to achieve a variety of finishes. The textured Outrenoirs, alternating between rough and smooth, matte and glossy, shimmer in the light which, from his coastal home in Sète, distilled the sparkling essence of his watery, Mediterranean surroundings.

“Some mornings, it is a silvery gray. Sometimes, capturing the light reflected from the sea, it is blue. At other times it can be tinged a coppery brown. In fact, it always corresponds to the light that falls on it. One day, I even saw it green: There had been a storm, and there was a blaze of sun on the trees not far away.”

Vija Celmins, Untitled (Big Sea #1) (detail), 1969, Private Collection. Artwork: © Vija Celmins, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery

This also calls to mind the meticulous, monochromatic ocean renderings by Latvian artist Vija Celmins. In particular her intense, closely cropped studies of waves – alongside other natural phenomena such as limitless night skies and desert terrains – share a similar preoccupation with extraordinary, mesmerising surfaces, pushing her compositions to the verge of abstraction. Celmins also emphasises the physical presence of her works, rejecting the notion that they represent anything but themselves, eliminating horizon lines and other space markers. Similarly, Soulages’ absolute rejection of pictorial space, perspective, or form might also appear to align with the contemporaneous surge toward abstraction in the Post-War period—particularly in the States—and Soulages was often grouped alongside the leading figures of Abstract Expressionism such as de Kooning, Rothko and Kline. However, he rejected being confined into any specific movement, and whilst the Abstract Expressionists foregrounded gesture and personal expression, Soulages sought instead to explore light, surface, and materiality beyond any kind of representation. Widely regarded as France’s most successful artist during his lifetime, Soulages established himself amongst the most revered artists of the last century, and he was honored by a retrospective at the Louvre in Paris, a rare lifetime accolade. Yet above all, his pre-eminence lies in his singular vision, tapping into something primal: the power of darkness and light, the raw, elemental qualities of the natural world that underlie the visible. Engaging directly with the viewer, his works reminds us that abstraction can speak as powerfully to our deepest, most archaic sensibilities.

Peinture 72,5 x 81 cm, 5 mai 1985

Sotheby’s Paris: 10 April 2025
Estimated: EUR 400,000 – 600,000
EUR 482,600 / USD 528,430

Peinture 72,5 x 81 cm, 5 mai 1985 | Art Moderne et Contemporain Evening Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 72,5 x 81 cm, 5 mai 1985
Oil on canvas
72.5 x 81 cm (28 1/2 x 31 7/8 inches)
Signed and titled (on the reverse)

One night in January 1979, as the artist was vainly covering his canvas with a thick layer of black paste, Soulages suddenly perceived a ‘different kind of painting’ with immense potential: the so-called outrenoir (or ‘beyond black’). This neologism, which he coined to designate a mental field other than that of simple black, suggests a certain clarity beyond the darkness. Whereas before light emanated from the background of the support, it was now captured by the surface. The light contrast is no longer based on black versus light, but on variations in texture: depending on whether it is smooth or grooved, the black material absorbs, modulates, catches or reflects the light. On the edge of each groove carved into the surface of this work, a brilliant reflection contrasts with a deep black. The optical mixture is therefore not, as in Impressionism, the simultaneous perception of two distinct colours, but the joint capture of one color, black, and the acting light. The tools Soulages uses are decisive here: a blade seems to have smoothed the paint, while a broad brush appears to have printed fine superficial streaks, interrupting the surface without diverting the flow of matter. At other times, he cuts deeper into the paint layer with a sharp tool or a thick cardboard board, like a scarified skin. Although he uses a single pigment, the ways in which he applies it and the ways in which it can be used are infinite, from uniform repetitions to more jerky, jerky movements, in regular diagonals or broken rhythms. Distinct from the supple striations of 1979 and the broad, criss-crossing movements of the 1983 Sète triptych, the repeated obliques of this canvas, interrupted by the stretcher frame, almost foreshadow the configuration of the stained-glass windows in Conques Abbey, whose regularly spaced supporting bars will recall the framing of the canvases.

While this work reveals all the luminous potential of black pigment, it also brings out an infinite number of subtle colour variations. Soulages defies the limits of monochrome: the single pigment covering the entire canvas is matched by a multiplicity of shades of grey created by light transmutations. Pierre Encrevé refers to this as ‘single-pigment painting with chromatic versatility’. At the heart of outrenoir lies the intelligence of color, not in terms of differences in values, but in terms of materials: rather than placing a grey next to a black, Soulages places the same blacks side by side, their different textures giving rise to a rich palette of shades, depending on the light that illuminates it. It was on this type of canvas that the painter best observed the chromatic versatility of black paint.

“Some mornings, it’s silver-grey. At other times, catching the reflections of the sea, it’s blue. At other times, it takes on coppery brown tones. In reality, it’s always in tune with the light it receives.”

Gesture and form have finally been replaced by an implacable regularity of obliques. Soulages rejects the way in which gestural painting traces the painter’s states of mind, but also any formal element that might introduce a certain language, a narrative, to the detriment of what he considers the very essence of painting: its support, its medium, its format and its dimensions. This conviction is perfectly illustrated by the title of this work: Peinture, 72.5 x 81cm, 5 May 1985. This hieratic composition, without image or language, in which the importance of light has eclipsed that of the sign, seems to fulfil Soulages’ wish to capture “what escapes words, what lies in the darkest, most secret part of a painting”.

Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008

Sotheby’s Paris: 23 April 2024
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 889,000 / USD 950,598

Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008 | Art Moderne et Contemporain Evening Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008
Acrylic on canvas
181×128 cm (71 1/4 x 50 3/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 30 MARS 2008 (on the reverse)

Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008 represents the culmination of the artistic and aesthetic quest of Pierre Soulages, one of the most important visual artists of the second half of the 20th century. Its large format and complex sculptural texture invite the viewer to plunge into a fascinating sensory universe, where light and darkness interact in an infinite dance. The work belongs to the emblematic Outrenoir series, begun in 1979, and represents a turning point in the painter’s career: his tireless exploration of black matter and its reflections is a major milestone in the history of modern art, marking a radical break with the traditional conventions of painting.

Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008 demonstrates Soulages’ mastery of the medium. Through meticulous, repetitive gestures, he creates a complex, vibrant texture that captures the light and reflects his deep fascination with the color black. For him, black is not simply the absence of light, but a source of light in itself. From the outset, Soulages explored the multiple nuances and textures of black, seeking to reveal its intrinsic depth and richness. By discarding the other colors he had been using since the 1940s and concentrating exclusively on black, Soulages transcends the limits of color to propose a meditation on the nature of light and darkness, offering the viewer a unique visual and sensory experience.

The emergence of the Outrenoir in the work of Pierre Soulages represents a major revolution, although its origin may seem fortuitous. In early 1979, while in his studio, the artist covered a canvas entirely in black paint without any prior intention. The next day, Soulages realized that the work was truly singular, reflecting his philosophical and spiritual concerns. The surface of the canvas becomes a battlefield between darkness and light, where each brushstroke is an attempt to find a balance between the two. The technique Soulages uses in Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008 is as remarkable as his aesthetic. Using thick acrylics since 2004, he creates a sculptural texture that gives the canvas an almost palpable physical presence. Each relief, each hollow is the result of a meticulous and thoughtful process, in which the material is shaped and manipulated to reveal its true essence. Over the decades, Soulages has constantly explored new techniques and pushed back the boundaries of traditional painting. In Peinture 181 x 128 cm, 30 mars 2008, we can see this desire for innovation through the bold use of colour and texture. Every mark, every gesture is an experiment, an attempt to push back the boundaries of traditional painting and create something truly new and unique. In this way, the work reflects the creative genius of Pierre Soulages, who redefined the boundaries of modern painting and opened up new avenues of artistic expression.

Peinture 91 x 181 cm, 26 décembre 2014

Christie’s London: 28 June 2023
Estimated: GBP 750,000 – 1,000,000
GBP 1,153,200 / USD 1,456,980

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 91 x 181 cm, 26 décembre 2014
Acrylic on canvas
91×181 cm (35 3/4 x 71 1/4 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘SOULAGES “peinture 91 x 181 cm” 26-12-2014’ (on the reverse)

With its gleaming expanse of black paint raked into rhythmic, reflective splendor, Peinture 91 x 181 cm, 26 décembre 2014 is a spectacular outrenoir painting by Pierre Soulages. Soulages coined the term outrenoir, which translates roughly as ‘beyond black’, in 1979 to describe the new realm he had entered with his all-black canvases. By using paint in a complex range of textures and densities—whether matt, lustrous, coarse, smooth, swept into broad planes or finely striated—he created interactive paintings that were not simply monochrome but full of visual life, constantly changing with ambient light and the position of the viewer. To make the present work, he sculpted thick acrylic paint into a longitudinal field of glossy diagonal strokes. The banks, furrows and ridges, which surge upwards from left to right, were formed by dragging a home-made scraping tool through the pigment. The work’s variegated, scintillating surface transcends blackness to become an experience of light. It was painted in 2014, two days after the artist’s ninety-fifth birthday. The Musée Soulages, a museum in Rodez dedicated to his life’s work, opened that same year.

Soulages rose to prominence on both sides of the Atlantic in the decades after the Second World War. His paintings were always distinguished by their sensitivity to light and darkness. Initially working in a bold, calligraphic Informel mode, he experimented with chiaroscuro effects and interlocking beams of paint, arriving by the 1960s at complex, diaphanous works created by the building up and scraping-away of pigment. It was this turn towards the matter of paint itself—the matière—that led to the breakthrough of the outrenoirs in 1979. He continued to explore their potential until his death, at the age of 102, in 2022. From 2004 onwards he used acrylic paint rather than oil, taking advantage of its quick-drying properties to shape increasingly dynamic and reflective surfaces, often at monumental scale. The present work exemplifies the grandeur of these late works. As with all his paintings, it alludes to no outside meaning. Its factual title of date and dimensions fixes it as an object in time. Nonetheless, as the light of the external world dances across its surface, it is created anew with each viewer’s encounter.

Peinture 65 x 143 cm, 13 décembre 2008

Artcurial Paris: 7 June 2023
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 900,000
EUR 852,800 / USD 912,296

Contemporary Art – Evening Sale | Sale n°4308 | Lot n°133 | Artcurial

Pierre SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 65 x 143 cm, 13 décembre 2008 
Acrylic on canvas
65×143 cm
Signed, dated and titled on the reverse

Peinture 175 x 222 cm, 20 juillet 2020

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2022
Estimated: EUR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
EUR 1,482,000 / USD 1,455,795

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 175 x 222 cm, 20 juillet 2020
Acrylic on canvas
175×222 cm (68 7/8 x 87 3/8 inches)
Signed, dated and inscribed ‘SOULAGES Peinture 175 x 222 cm. 20.07.2020’ (on the reverse)

The present Outrenoir gives the possibility of seeing the spectacular, nervous and masterful energy of Pierre Soulages’ ultimate works. Spreading out across the width of the canvas – in a format that recalls the high and impressive stature of the painter himself- his flat areas give rhythm to the surface, overlap, add their thicknesses against which the light clings, in opposition to the matt background that absorbs more than it reflects. Everywhere, through these effects of contrasts and textures, light seems to emerge from within the canvas itself and modulates its infinite variations.

Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016

Phillips Hong-Kong: 22 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 7,500,000 – 10,000,000
HKD 8,115,000 / USD 1,033,762

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 102 x 130 cm, 11 mars 2016
Acrylic on canvas
102×130 cm (40.1 x 50.1 inches)

Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 2 juillet 2012

Sotheby’s Paris: 8 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
EUR 1,729,000 / USD 1,856,943

Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 2 juillet 2012 | Art Contemporain Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 2 juillet 2012
Acrylic on canvas (triptych)
263×181 cm (103.5 x 71.2 inches)

Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 25 mars 1990

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2021
Estimated: EUR 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
EUR 2,480,000 / USD 2,887,078

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 25 mars 1990
Oil on canvas (diptych)
222×222 cm (87.4 x 87.4 inches)

Spectacular in terms of size and masterful in its composition, Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 25 mars 1990, which has been part of a French private collection for thirty years, is a striking demonstration of Pierre Soulages’ major contribution to the history of art over the past forty years. Here, amidst the thick paste, in the manner of a sculptor, the artist digs a myriad of oblique grooves, creates ridges and imprints the brush and spatula with an entire geology that is sometimes accentuated, occasionally blurred by the light that is projected onto it. Black then sometimes becomes ebony in depth, sometimes iridescent and almost white, allowing an infinite variation of subtle tones to unfold between these two extremes. And depending on the lighting conditions and the position from which it is contemplated, Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 25 mars 1990 reflects an ever-changing reality, constantly renewing itself, leaving viewers to face the radical solitude of their point of view. Thus, we understand that Pierre Soulages is no longer the painter of black, he is the painter of light.

Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 21 mars 2007

Christie’s Paris: 2 December 2020
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 956,000 / USD 1,158,787

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 21 mars 2007
Acrylic on canvas
117 x 130 cm (46.1 x 51.1 inches)

Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 21 mars 2007 is part of an important ensemble of works begun in 2007 which propose a new iteration of the multifaceted reality of black. Deep scores run across the painting at a slant, forming two separations that divide the canvas into thirds. The furrows are placed end to end, creating two grooves that bring rhythm to the piece. Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 21 mars 2007 reveals a different use of these traces, completely filling the surface of the painting. They create reliefs of shadow and radiance, the steps in a dance of light that invites the viewer as a partner. Indeed, the slightest movement of the spectator, the slightest change in the orientation of the lighting, sends the light waltzing in a new direction. Playing on a complex rapport with shine, Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 21 mars 2007 continues the exploration of the luminous potential inherent to the Outrenoir.

Soulages has always sought to bring light forth from black pigment. Starting in 1979, the painter began to inflect light through various textures of black, transcending darkness to make the color a source of light, leaping from the work. Soulages thus opens a new mental arena which is manifested in the creation of a new space in front of the painting. In this space, the spectator receives the light emanating from the work and is immersed in its reflections. By furrowing the entire painting with a succession of deep marks, Soulages begets the light, etching it into the grooves of Peinture 117 x 130 cm, 21 mars 2007.

Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 29 décembre 2007

Christie’s Paris: 17 October 2019
Estimated: EUR 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
EUR 1,690,000 / USD 1,880,000

Pierre Soulages (Né en 1919), Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 29 décembre 2007 | Christie’s

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 29 décembre 2007
Acrylic on canvas, triptych
263×181 cm (103 1/2 x 71 1/4 inches)
Signed, dated and titled ‘SOULAGES, “Peinture 264 x 181 cm, 29.12.2007” triptyque’ (on the reverse)

We are forever watched by two things, each as dangerous as the other: order and disorder”, says Pierre Soulages in the publication Pierre Soulages: Noir lumière; Entretiens avec Françoise Jaunin (Françoise Jaunin, Lausanne, 2002). And like a tightrope walker, the painter united the two in his majestic Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 29 décembre 2007. Disorder is in the rhythmic, visual ruptures that leave their mark on the triptych’s panels. Through the thickness of the acrylic paint, Soulages transformed the work’s three disparate sections into four black surfaces marked by a series of effects of light and matter. Anthracite paint—sometimes matt, sometimes glossy—reveals, in parts, the verticality of the painter’s motions, while elsewhere it erases body movement to become a smooth surface, and it thickens on one of the sections to form deep, bright furrows.
But once assembled, the panels reveal an orderly creation, asserting itself through its contemplative presence. There is no narration here, nor any eloquent title: “His giant paintings, often divided into polyptychs, show nothing beyond them, nor do they refer to anything but themselves. In front of them, the viewer is summoned head-on, subsumed in the space the paintings exude and captured by the intensity of their presence” (Françoise Jaunin, Pierre Soulages: Noir lumière; Entretiens avec Françoise Jaunin, ibid). It is therefore up to viewer to stand in front of the triptych and move around the panels to experience the unique phenomenon offered by Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 29 décembre 2007: the concept of outrenoir (‘beyond black’).
Through this neologism, Soulages describes the endlessly repeated experience that has obsessed him since 1979: the infinite possibilities of black, sculpted and touched by light. But outrenoir was originally just a failed painting—saturated with black paint—in his studio. Left unfinished one night, the work presented something striking when the painter returned to his studio the next morning to complete it. In it, he discovered uncharted territory: “Outrenoir: light reflected beyond black, transmuted by black. Outrenoir is black which, ceasing to be black, effuses clarity and secret light.” (Les éclats du noir, interview with Pierre Encrevé in a special issue of Beaux-Arts magazine, March 1996). Like in Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 29 décembre 2007, in which Soulages opened a path to this new “mental field” (ibid.), black—the most essential absence of colour—becomes a unique sensory experience: one of powerful clarity.

Peinture 227 x 306 cm, 2 mars 2009

Christie’s Paris: 7 June 2018
Estimated: EUR 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
EUR 2,407,500 / USD 2,849,517

PIERRE SOULAGES (NÉ EN 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (NÉ EN 1919)
Peinture 227 x 306 cm, 2 mars 2009
Oil on canvas, tryptich
227×306 cm (89 3/8 x 120 1/2 inches)
Signed, titled, and dated ‘SOULAGES “peinture 227 x 306 cm” triptyque 02.03.2009’ (on reverse)

A typical example of the stylistic excellence reached by Soulages in the 2000s is Peinture 227 x 306 cm, 2 mars 2009, the painting chosen to end off the large retrospective held in his honor by the Centre Pompidou/Musée National d’Art Moderne in 2009-2010. The eye wanders over continuous horizontal lines making their way across a surface divided into three vertical time panels and fluctuating between dull and brilliant. Polyptychs offer the painter a way of combining various techniques by breaking up and connecting the various parts of a single work.

As art historian Pierre Encrevé notes in his catalogue of Soulages’ work, “A remarkable example is the horizontal triptych Peinture 227 x 306 cm, 2 mars 2009, whose centre panel, with its black reflective surface lined with deep horizontal grooves, irregular and unequal in length, is flanked on either side by dull dark panels holding back the motion of the brilliant black so characteristic of outrenoir, which produces a sense of disconnect in which the tension between the static and dynamic light is heightened” (Soulages – L’oeuvre complet, peinture, Vol. IV 1997-2013, Paris, 2015, p. 216).

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Outrenoirs “Blue”

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Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 18 décembre 1988

Sotheby’s Paris: 13 October 2023
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 1,076,500 / USD 1,134,410

Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 18 décembre 1988 | Modernités | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 18 décembre 1988
Oil on canvas
81×102 cm (31 7/8 x 40 1/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 18.12.88 on the reverse

“There’s always something quite sensual about bringing black and blue together. You give yourself over to it voluptuously.”

Abstract, gestural, energetic, and luminous, Peinture 81 x 102 cm, 18 décembre 1988 was executed less than ten years after Soulages dedicated himself to the pioneering Outrenoir series he initiated in 1979. Executed in December 1988, the present painting is an astonishing example of the work of a lifetime by Pierre Soulages, a profound exploration of the interplay between light and darkness. Soulages believed that black, far from being an absence of color, held within it an abundance of nuances. He approached his work as a dialogue between light and the black surface, creating a dynamic and living canvas.

PIERRE SOULAGES AT WORK, 1980S © MANUEL BIDERMANAS / AKG-IMAGES © ADAGP, PARIS, 2023

Soulages’ artistic process involved meticulously layering thick impasto strokes of black paint onto his canvases, occasionally introducing touches of blue, white, red or brown into his predominantly black compositions. These subtle variations further enriched his body of work, demonstrating his unending curiosity and commitment to artistic innovation. He would then manipulate the texture and reflectivity of the surface to create a visual experience that transcended the traditional boundaries of painting. His works seem to absorb and emit light simultaneously, drawing viewers into a world of infinite depth and mystery.

Peinture 81 x 63,5 cm, 7 mars 2003

Sotheby’s Paris: 5 June 2023
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 965,200 / USD 1,032,070

Peinture 81 x 63,5 cm, 7 mars 2003 | Art Contemporain Evening Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 81 x 63,5 cm, 7 mars 2003
Oil on canvas
81 x 63.5 cm (31 7/8 x 25 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 7 mars 2003 on the reverse

Peinture 102 x 165 cm, 16 novembre 1994

Sotheby’s Paris: 8 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,200,000
EUR 1,668,500 / USD 1,791,966

Peinture 102 x 165 cm, 16 novembre 1994 | Art Contemporain Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 102 x 165 cm, 16 novembre 1994
Oil on canvas
102×165 cm (40.2 x 64.9 inches)

Peinture 92 x 73 cm, 25 octobre 1987

Christie’s Paris: 21 October 2020
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 900,000
EUR 860,000 / USD 1,016,909

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 92 x 73 cm, 25 octobre 1987
Oil on canvas
92×73 cm (36.2 x 28.7 inches)

Although mono-pigmentary, the artist’s paintings display chromatic versatility that comes from the variations in light and the onlooker’s position. In the middle of the 1980s, as he continued to explore the possibilities of this innovative vocabulary, Soulages reintroduced colored pigments into his works. The painter says that it is in his workshop in Sète, on a day when the mistral was blowing, that the reflections of the Mediterranean on the surface allowed him to glimpse a deep blue in one of his paintings. Thus, in Peinture 92 x 73 cm, 25 octobre 1987, blue is subtly mingled into the coolness of the black, creating textured furrows. Although he would also come use other colors, blue was the one that best reinforced the transmutation of black into light. The artist feels a veritable chromatic continuity between outrenoir, blue, and the reflected light. Effectively, the visibility curve of blue increases and decreases more abruptly than that of any other color. Whereas it becomes brilliant with light, greater obscurity immediately makes it plummet towards black. In Peinture 92 x 73 cm, 25 octobre 1987, the artist passed a blue acrylic preparation over the canvas, scraping it to make it reappear, after having brushed a black paste over it, striating the surface diagonally. Hence, light bursts forth from the painting, brought to life by the different textures on the canvas, and intensified by the blue.

Peinture 35 x 55 cm, 29 mai 1987

Christie’s Paris: 29 June 2020
Estimated: EUR 400,000 – 600,000
EUR 502,000 / USD 563,981

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 35 x 55 cm, 29 mai 1987
Oil on canvas
35 x 55 cm (13.7 x 21.6 inches)

In the spring of 1986, as Pierre Soulages was painting in his studio in Sète overlooking the Mediterranean, a singular accident occurred that would trigger a decisive turning point in the artist’s work: the blue of the sea interacted with the black on one of his canvases. What followed was a period of several years during which the painter used blue to further accentuate the light in his works, as in Peinture 35 x 55 cm, 29 mai 1987. To achieve this effect, the artist first coats the canvas with a blue acrylic preparation, then uses a brush to cover it with a thick black paste. The initial blue does not reappear until the next step, when the surface is raked and it emerges here and there, depending on the furrows and ridges of the matter. And yet, here again, the blue is not considered as such, but instead is employed for the light it reflects and the vibrations it creates beyond the canvas. It somehow falls into the chromatic continuum of black: like black, it demands that one think differently about the very notion of color. Peinture 35 x 55 cm, 29 mai 1987 is a particularly accomplished example of this use of blue, which not only appears to the eye in the wide vertical stripe in the center, but also jumps out along the edges of the painting, attesting to the underlying layer of paint first deposited on the surface. Peinture 35 x 55 cm, 29 mai 1987 alternates sections of stripes – some vertical, some diagonal – with flat blocks of colour – of blue, yes, but also of black along the right edge. It ushers the viewer into the visual experience that lies at the heart of ‘Outrenoir’: depending on the viewing angle and the deflections of light cast on it, the work constantly changes and morphs before the eyes of the beholder.

Peinture 222 x 222cm, 15 mai 1987

Christie’s London: 3 October 2019
Estimated: GBP 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
GBP 2,771,250 / USD 3,410,769

Pierre Soulages (b. 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 222 x 222cm, 15 mai 1987
Oil on canvas, in two parts
Left: 222 x 85.2 cm (87.4 x 33.5 inches)
Right: 222 x 136.8 cm (87.4 x 53.9 inches)
Overall: 222×222 cm (87.4 x 87.4 inches)

With its gleaming expanse of black and blue paint raked into rhythmic, reflective splendor, Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 15 mai 1987 is a spectacular outrenoir painting. The present work, over four meters square, is formed of two joined canvases of different size, emphasizing its near-sculptural objecthood. A torrent of broad, diagonal strokes, pulled across the thick pigment using a homemade spatula, covers much of the surface: in the left-hand panel they are entirely black, while in the larger right-hand section Soulages’s scraping action reveals flashes of a brilliant blue undercoat. This scintillating field has the inky lustre of a dark birdwing. Behind it, and revealed in a bare lower corner, a deep black ground is striated with a fine, dense horizontal grain. From 1986, Soulages’s gradual introduction of blue, the color of natural daylight, into his outrenoir works went hand in hand with an amplification of their scale, luminosity and textural force: Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 15 mai 1987 sees this late idiom at its majestic best. Peinture 222 x 222 cm, 15 mai 1987’s interplay of glossy, matt, rough, smooth, diagonal and horizontal textures shows Soulages exploiting his material’s reflective properties to ever greater variety and contrast.

Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 30 avril 1981

Christie’s Paris: 4 December 2018
Estimated: EUR 650,000 – 850,000
EUR 1,357,500 / USD 1,540,300

PIERRE SOULAGES (NÉ EN 1919), Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 30 avril 1981 | Christie’s

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 30 avril 1981
Oil on canvas
130×92 cm (51 1/8 x 36 1/4 inches)
Signed ‘soulages’ (lower right)
Signed, titled and dated ‘SOULAGES 30.4.81 130 x 92 cm’ (on the reverse)

“Black has unsuspected possibilities and, since I am attentive to what I do not know, I go to meet them.”

In spring 1979, in his Sète studio facing the Mediterranean, Pierre Soulages made a decisive discovery on his artistic path. Black had accidentally taken over the entire surface of a canvas that he was in the middle of painting. Entirely covered in paint, the work no longer showed a distinction between the fore- and background; however, the plays of texture on the surface (ridges and hollows of the oil applied in thick layers) reflected the external light, as if black had become an emitter of light. The artist would give this revolution the name “outrenoir” (beyond black): like outre-Atlantique or outre-Rhin (on the other side of the Atlantic or the Rhine), outrenoir invites the viewer to cross a border and venture into a new mental field, beyond colour. Since this pivotal year, the painter has ceaselessly explored the multiple possibilities offered by this new kind of approach.

“The light emanating from the canvas to the viewer creates a space in front of the canvas and the viewer finds themselves in this space; there is an immediacy of vision for each viewpoint; if you change it, the first view dissolves and is erased, and another appears; […] in natural light, the clarity emanating from the black moves with that bringing the flow of time to a standstill.”

On several occasions during the eighties, Soulages would reintroduce color at the heart of his outrenoirs, especially blue. This is true of Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 30 avril 1981, in which a bright ultramarine blue occupies the lower part of the work and shows through in several areas of the composition where the black paint has been scraped. The black itself, however, is clearly outrenoir black: alternating wide matte flat tints and ridged areas in glossier paint whose grooves capture the light and reflect it in an ever-changing way depending on from where you are contemplating the work.

 

 

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Outrenoirs “White”

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Peinture 138 x 181 cm, 26 novembre 2010

Christie’s London: 28 February 2023
Estimated: GBP 650,000 – 850,000
GBP 1,026,000 / USD 1,240,928

PIERRE SOULAGES (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 138 x 181 cm, 26 novembre 2010
Acrylic on canvas, in two parts
Overall: 54 5/8 x 71 5/8 inches (138.8 x 181.8 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘SOULAGES “Peinture 138 x 181 cm” 26 novembre 2010’ (on the reverse)

With its shimmering dark surface underscored by a pristine pale strip, Peinture 138 x 181 cm, 26 novembre 2010 occupies rare territory in Pierre Soulages’ oeuvre. While the relationship between black and white lay at the heart of the artist’s enquiries, the present work’s clean, bisected structure distinguishes it within his practice, offering a vision of distilled elegance and clarity. Spanning almost two metres in width, the painting captures Soulages’ enduring fascination with black as a source of light. With its flickering vertical striations hovering above a horizontal ribbon of rich impasto, the work reflects his longstanding exploration of the state he termed ‘outrenoir’, or ‘beyond black’. Here, the deep, light-reflecting properties of his dark paint are made all the more brilliant by their sharp-edged encounter with white, the two zones throwing one another into powerful relief. In 2014, the work was included in the inaugural exhibition at the Musée Soulages in Rodez: the first European retrospective dedicated to the outrenoirs. There, it stood as a symbol of the restless creative spirit that continued to drive Soulages into his tenth decade.

Soulages’ death in October 2022—three years after his landmark centenary exhibition at the Musée du Louvre—brought an end to one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable artistic practices. From an early age, he had understood that black was the most fundamental color: famously, while spreading dark ink upon white paper as a child, he had explained to a family friend that he was attempting to paint ‘snow’. Encounters with the 20,000-year-old cave paintings of Lascaux, and the dark vaulted interior of the eleventh-century abbey near his hometown, strengthened his convictions. Black, he believed, could absorb and contain the light of the world around it, making other colors more visible and potent by association. In 1979, after more than thirty years of exploring this idea in his art, Soulages experienced an epiphany. It was time, he decided, for total darkness to permeate his paintings, saturating every inch of the canvas. He conceived the term ‘outrenoir’ to describe this condition. Just as ‘outre-Manche’ indicated a land ‘across the Channel’, so too did ‘outrenoir’ denote a place ‘beyond’: one where black transcended its ‘blackness’, giving way—simply—to light.

At the time of the present work, Soulages had just celebrated his ninetieth birthday: an occasion marked by a major retrospective at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. His outrenoirs, by this stage, had reached new levels of complexity and ambition. Since the 1980s, many had taken the form of polyptychs, allowing the artist to juxtapose different textures on grand scales. The present work, indeed, seems to reflect something of this impetus, its surface dividing naturally into two or even three clear sections. This structural zoning seems to evoke Soulages’ early associations with Mark Rothko and other Color Field painters, many of whom were yoked together under the rubric of Art Informel in the 1950s. The work’s rich, near-sculptural textures, meanwhile, demonstrate the artist’s use of acrylic, which replaced oil as his primary medium during the mid-2000s. Applied in thick pastes, its vertical ridges and grooves allow light to shutter rapidly across the surface, the physicality of the paint dissolving in its wake. Shadows, by contrast, flicker across the white expanse beneath. Forged as the sun began to set upon his art, it is a work of staggering crystalline beauty, giving form to the elemental forces that define our existence.

Peinture 45 x 57 cm, 7 janvier 2000

Ketterer Munich: 10 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 220,000
EUR 475,000 / USD 499,684

Ketterer Kunst, Art auctions, Book auctions Munich, Hamburg & Berlin

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 45 x 57 cm, 7 janvier 2000
Oil on canvas
45.2 x 57.5 cm (17.7 x 22.6 inches)
Verso signed and dated

In his work from 1999, Soulages devoted himself to the high-contrast combination of black and white for the first time after many years of intensively dealing with purely black painting – only occasionally interrupted by excursions into reddish-brown or blue color worlds.

“Black initially interested me in terms of its relationship to other colors, it forms a contrast. Next to it, even a dark color comes alive. White can also become more intense.”

In the present work, narrow stripes of the primed canvas remain visible between the horizontal black stripes that were imperfectly applied with a broad brush. Black and white meet and the light strikes deep dark and extremely light color fields, it is transmitted from one to the other, reflected and stopped by the raised areas of the colored areas. The indistinctly separated surfaces create a lively, sensually attractive spatial presence in connection with their special materiality and the color surface, which subtly shines or appears in a chatoyant matt black, depending on the incidence of light and the position of the viewer.

Peinture 237 x 81 cm, 18 fevrier 1990

Christie’s Paris: 29 June 2021
Estimated: EUR 600,000 – 800,000
EUR 1,100,000 / USD 1,303,626

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 237 x 81 cm, 18 fevrier 1990
Oil on canvas
237×81 cm (93 1/4 x 31 7/8 inches)

Peinture 237 x 81 cm, 18 février 1990 is a spectacular example of this research. The work is part of a series of four large vertical polyptychs created by Soulages between February and March 1990. Its format is emblematic of the artist’s taste for compositions in several assembled canvases, thanks to which he produces effects of antagonisms or continuities between the different elements—whether it is a question of playful materials, alternations in the dynamics of shapes, or even nuances in the matt / glossy ratio that black can generate. However, Peinture 237 x 81 cm, 18 février 1990 presents a very singular characteristic with the inclusion of a white element in the center, extremely rare in the work of the artist (although he returned to this during a series produced thirty years later).

 

 

 

 

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Outrenoirs “Red/Brown”

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Peinture 130 x 97 cm, 11 septembre 1981

Sotheby’s Paris: 23 April 2024
Estimated: EUR 700,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 857,250 / USD 916,648

Peinture 130 x 97 cm, 11 septembre 1981 | Art Moderne et Contemporain Evening Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919 – 2022)
Peinture 130 x 97 cm, 11 septembre 1981
Oil on canvas
130×97 cm (51 1/8 x 38 1/4 inches)
Signed (lower right)
Signed, inscribed and dated 11 Sept 81 (on the reverse)

In 1981, Pierre Soulages executed a monumental work, 11 September 1981, marking a significant stage in the artist’s career: Soulages, already world-renowned for his Outrenoirs, which he had begun two years earlier, sought to transcend the limits of the colour black, temporarily abandoning Outrenoir in favour of a unique work and a new exploration of the nuances of darkness.

Soulages began his Outrenoirs in 1979, but it was not until 1981 that color made a clear reappearance. The work 11 September 1981 is a perfect example: oblique black streaks run across the upper part of the painting, blending into a vast expanse of yellow ochre with golden hues that emerges from below. In this work, the addition of color gives the black a different intensity: the black, treated as a flat surface or by scraping, reveals the yellow ochre through transparency. By playing with different textures and introducing another color to contrast, Soulages invites the viewer to rethink painting beyond the canvas, where black becomes both a raw material and a source of light. The thick application of oil allows the creation of bold strokes and areas that reflect or absorb light, offering a palette of shades of black never seen before, testifying to the artist’s mastery in the use of this singular color.

The paintings of 1981 and 11 September 1981 are a perfect synthesis of the different artistic choices made by the ‘Master of Black’, between the breakthrough brought by the Outrenoir in 1979 and the rediscovery of the colors used in the 1960s. 11 September 1981 is much more than a simple black canvas: it evokes a mysterious landscape where sinuous shapes seem to unfold in the darkness, illuminated by flashes of light that are themselves reinforced by the play of colored transparency.

Peinture 85 x 222 cm, 18 avril 1991

Christie’s Paris: 20 October 2022
Estimated: EUR 600,000 – 800,000
EUR 2,442,000 / USD 2,398,821

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES (1919-2022)
Peinture 85 x 222 cm, 18 avril 1991
Oil on canvas
85×222 cm (33 1/2 x 87 3/8 inches)
Signed, dated and inscribed ‘SOULAGES Peinture 28 x 222 18 Avril 1991’ (on the reverse)

Rare are the paintings presenting red such as Peinture 85 x 222 cm, 18 avril 1991. Oblique striations run across the top of the painting until they are interrupted by a vast expanse of warm reds that unfold from below. The work provides a glimpse into the full range of techniques used in Outrenoir, a series that the artist continues to work on today. He plays with smooth and furrowed textures, alternating between areas of matt and gloss— occasionally calling up another color that emerges from the depths of the piece. The Outrenoirs series invites the viewer to cross a border, to discover a foreign land, and to reconsider painting beyond the canvas. Black is no longer a color, it acts as a raw material and a light. The oil applied in thickness makes all bold strokes possible: along furrows and ridges, fibrous and smooth blocks and areas that reflect or absorb light, black can take on shades of anthracite, almost bluish grey, and sometimes even almost white. In Peinture 85 x 222 cm, 18 avril 1991, black participates in the creation of a new landscape, a mysterious forest of black and sinuous trunks, hypnotizing, intriguing and fascinating, from which emanates, at their roots, a nervous and enveloping red mist, conveying an iridescent touch to these trees with crimson reflections, to reach their tops. This tormented atmosphere does not wait to be just contemplated, but invites the spectator to penetrate inside the painting, to enter beyond the edge of this dreamy wood, to make a way between the trees, to follow one or several ways traced by the carmine mist.

Peinture 54 x 73 cm, 26 septembre 1981

Ketterer Munich: 10 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 400,000
EUR 685,000 / USD 720,597

Ketterer Kunst, Art auctions, Book auctions Munich, Hamburg & Berlin

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 54 x 73 cm, 26 septembre 1981
Oil on canvas
54.5 x 73 cm (21.4 x 28.7 inches)
Signed in lower right. Signed, dated “26.9.81 54 x 73” on the reverse
Additionally dated “26-9-81” and inscribed “3/82” on verso of the stretcher

From 1979, after an accidental occurrence in the studio when black paint spilled over the canvas of a painting, his color palette, which had always been limited, was predominantly reduced to black. In the resulting exclusively black paintings, the reflex lines moving in different directions determine the reduced and yet extremely interesting color effect. At the beginning of the 1980s, a renewed interest in expanding the range came up. In addition to blue, white and a light to reddish brown also began to appear. The present painting dates from this period, when the palette brightened up again for a short time. The direction of movement and color is no longer shaped so strongly by obvious surface structures, but rather by color bars with irregular outlines. Here three black, multi-layered stripes over white and a narrow, light stripe of ochre in the lower margin of the picture. Pierre Soulages deals with the color and light effects of black in relation to white and ocher. The thinly applied and finely superimposed areas of black prove to be reliefed gradations in their margins. In oblique light, the surface transforms into a fine relief of regular, vertically rhythmic structures. Each of the superimposed thin black layers of paint has a slightly different structure and so the characterizations underneath can often only be seen in the margins of deeper layers. Pierre Soulage has not given up his basic idea of “outrenoir” in this delicate and calm painting. Rather, it is complemented here with the bright, radiant white and the creamy light ocher to form a new harmonization.

Peinture 72×57 cm, 9 avril 1994

Artcurial Paris: 8 December 2021
Estimated: EUR 600,000 – 800,000
EUR 895,400 / USD 1,010,381

Contemporary Art – Evening Sale | Sale n°4146 | Lot n°229 | Artcurial

Pierre SOULAGES
Peinture 72×57 cm, 9 avril 1994
Oil on canvas
72×57 cm
Signed, dated and titled on reverse

Peinture 165 x 130 cm, 19 mars 2006

Christie’s Paris: 2 December 2021
Estimated: EUR 800,000 – 1,000,000
EUR 1,460,000 / USD 1,650,836

Pierre Soulages (né en 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 165 x 130 cm, 19 mars 2006
Acrylic on canvas
165 x 130 cm (65 x 51.1 inches)

While Outrenoir is one of the most important revolutions in the long artistic career of Pierre Soulages, it owes its birth to happenstance. At the beginning of 1979, the artist was in his studio and, in spite of himself and—or in an act of failure that would delight psychoanalysts—he covered the canvas in front of him entirely with black paint.  For if his work had previously been characterized by the use of black in opposition to the other colors—the reds, blues, browns or whites against which it was set—this new approach enabled him to explore black not so much for its chromatic properties as for its formidable capacity to generate light. From the mid-2000s, acrylics replaced oil in this body of works. Thus, the use of a particularly thick paste allowed the artist to experiment with the material at will, almost as a sculptor would, to imprint it with trenches, craters, grooves and ridges that are sometimes accentuated and sometimes blurred by the light that is projected onto it. Peinture 165 x 130 cm, 19 mars 2006 is an emblematic example of this intricate work on texture. The horizontal bands, treated by contrasting matt and shiny areas—punctuated by a few light-colored gaps—give the viewer a vision that changes according to the position from which he or she contemplates each piece.

Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 20 septembre 2003

Christie’s Paris: 9 July 2020
Estimated: EUR 850,000 – 1,150,000
EUR 1,066,000 / USD 1,206,291

Pierre Soulages (b. 1919) (christies.com)

PIERRE SOULAGES
Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 20 septembre 2003
Oil on canvas
130×92 cm (51.2 x 36.2 inches)

In Peinture 130 x 92 cm, 20 septembre 2003, a myriad of slanted trails criss-cross the upper portion of the canvas until they are interrupted by a horizontal solid block in the center, as a vast stretch of warm brown unfolds below. The work provides an overview of the full range of techniques used in the Outrenoirs, a series that the artist began in the springtime of 1979 and which he continues today. He plays with smooth and furrowed textures, alternating between areas of matte and shine and occasional making use of another color that emerges from the depths of the piece. The Outrenoir series invites the viewer to cross a border, to enter a foreign country, and to reconsider the painting beyond the fixedness of the canvas. Black is not so much understood as a color, but as a raw material and a light. As such, depending on the position from which the work is viewed and the lighting conditions under which it is observed, each Outrenoir presents a continually changing appearance. The thick acrylic paste medium makes every bold stroke possible: along grooves and crests, fibrous and smooth blocks and areas that reflect or absorb the light, the black can take on undertones of charcoal, greyish blue, and sometimes even almost white. Since the light always casts a different appearance according to the position from which it is observed, each Outrenoir work is constantly in flux, allowing the viewer to experience total solitude in examining it.