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During two decades from 1950 to 1970, intense artistic changes profoundly redefined modern creation.

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In the post-war period, Paris was an important artistic center, which attracted painters, poets and intellectuals from all over the world. It is in this context that artists such as Hans Hartung, Gérard Schneider, Jean Miotte, Roger Bissière or Alfred Manessier deconstruct figuration tending towards lyrical abstraction and controlled gestuality.

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Zao Wou-Ki, who came from China, moved to Paris in 1948; his painting combines Asian inspiration and Western lyricism. Sonia Delaunay, a pioneer of abstraction, continued her research on color and rhythm there. Lucio Fontana, for his part, reveals a conceptual abstraction of Ambiente spaziale. Across the Channel, Frank Avray Wilson is part of an abstract European current oriented towards science and matter.

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A dialogue is established between Europe and the American continent where lyrical abstraction is developing; nourished by exhibitions, artist residencies, trips, galleries, and the development of major fairs. Alexander Calder, an American artist living in France, is fully committed to this transatlantic dynamic.

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Through this selection of artists — from Europe, Asia or America — the exhibition highlights a pivotal moment: when Paris, far from being a simple place of passage, asserts itself as a living center of modern abstraction, offering a field of expression to artists who have come to reinvent painting in a world under reconstruction.