Riopelle

Born in 1923 in Montreal, Jean-Paul Riopelle established himself as one of the major figures of post-war Canadian abstraction, occupying a unique place between North American abstract expressionism and European abstraction. Trained in Montreal, he moved away from academic teaching at an early age to develop a practice based on subject matter, gesture and formal freedom.

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Settling in Paris at the end of the 1940s, Riopelle quickly integrated into avant-garde circles and participated in research related to lyrical abstraction. Unlike purely expressive gestural painting, his work is distinguished by a dense construction of the pictorial surface, where the material becomes a structuring element in its own right. The use of the knife, applying color in thick impastos, gives his works an almost architectural dimension.

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In the 1950s and 1960s, the central period of his career, Riopelle developed an immediately identifiable pictorial language. The canvas is built by a rhythmic fragmentation of the surface, without center or hierarchy, where each touch contributes to a global balance. This approach, often similar to Action Painting, is distinguished by a desire for composition and a rigorous mastery of structure.

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Her painting explores a direct relationship with nature, not through representation, but through the transposition of its rhythms, strengths, and tensions. Color and matter become the vectors of an intense sensory experience, embedded in a long and meditative temporality.

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Exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1962, Riopelle's institutional recognition is now fully recognized by the opening of the Jean Paul Riopelle Pavilion at the National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec, dedicated to the permanent presentation of his work.

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