Nicolas de Staël: A Retrospective in Paris

Published on 05 October 2023, by Marie-Laure Castelnau

The musée d’Art moderne de Paris (MAM) traces the development of an unclassifiable painter whose colors collide and intensify each other. there are many surprises, including nearly 50 works being seen for the first time.

Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955), Large Blue Composition, 1950-1951, oil on Isorel, 200... Nicolas de Staël: A Retrospective in Paris

Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955), Large Blue Composition, 1950-1951, oil on Isorel, 200 x 150 cm/78.74 x 59.05 in. Private collection/Courtesy of Applicat-Prazan, Paris

Twenty years after the 2003 Centre Pompidou retrospective, the musée d’Art moderne de Paris pays tribute to the prolific, impulsive artist by focusing on the evolution of his work from figuration to abstraction and back again. But “the man’s legend sometimes overshadowed his work” says Pierre Wat, one of the show’s two curators. The imposing black and white portrait painted by Denise Colomb in his studio in 1954 that has helped to keep the myth alive greets visitors at the entrance. Painting was de Staël’s…

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