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His color: black. His mind: the light. Pierre Soulages is one of the greatest painters in the world. Born in Rodez in 1919, he is preparing to celebrate his birthday on December 24th. And he insisted to go this Tuesday, December 10 to the opening of his centennial exhibition. The painter of the black will become that day, after Chagall and Picasso, the third artist to know during his lifetime the absolute tribute of a retrospective at the Louvre.
At the Louvre Museum, the Salon carré is the mythical place for exhibitions by contemporary artists. Under a ceiling ornamented with stucco is hung twenty paintings by Pierre Soulages, from 1947 until today, the last one from last October. A brilliant synthesis of the career of the master of the black, conceived by the two commissioners Pierre Encrevé (died in February 2019) and Alfred Pacquement, with the agreement of the painter. Interview, accompanied by a video on the relationship between Soulages and Africa.
RFI : Is Pierre Soulages one of the greatest painters of the last fifty years ?
Alfred Pacquement : Absolutely. He is one of those who have really pursued an amazing career in painting, experimenting with this art in their own way and pursuing it in a very remarkable continuity and diversity. Yes, he is one of the great painters of today.
When we talk about the painter, we always talk about " the outrenoir ". What does the genius of Pierre Soulages consist of for you ?
We always talk about the outrenoir, except that the outrenoir represents "only" part of the work of Soulages, because the outrenoir is a phase of his work that begins in the late 1970s. But it is active since the 1940s. So the work is very diverse. But, I believe that Soulages brings to non-figurative painting a very specific approach. An approach that has a permanent theme, which is light. So, Soulages paints the light, he paints the light of the dark, in different ways, and he succeeds in this work on the light which is at bottom the work that many very great painters have sought.
Is this his genius ?
I do not know whether to say genius, but in any case it is its specificity, its approach. It is really in this that he is a painter both original and important.
Pierre Soulages created in August and October 2019 for the Louvre exhibition three new paintings. In an impressive format, 390 x 130 cm, he had them hang a few centimeters higher than the others. What is the particularity of these works ?
These new works, exhibited for the first time, are large vertical paintings, large vertical steles, which he thought about the space of this exhibition, in relation to the great wall of this Salon carré du Louvre. Soulages wanted to make large verticals, some of the largest paintings he has ever painted, which is quite amazing. What makes me think - at least in their form, in their space - the windows of the abbey church of Conques where he had made stained glasses quite successful and who asked him a lot of research work. These large verticals also have this space, but they are also part of this practice that he called "the outrenoir", with this way of applying either by streak or in a smooth way, the material on the painting and to bring out the light of the painting.
Nobody looks at a Soulages work in the same way when the light and the reflection of light change constantly. What role did Soulages attribute to the spectators of his works ?
The light will change, because I will not always position myself in the same place. Then, in a room like here in the Salon carré, where there is daylight mixed with artificial light, there are, in fact, different lights, according to the time of day, and according to the sky of the day. moment. Soulages has always said that the relationship that settled with a work is the relationship between the one who makes it, therefore the painter, the thing that is this work, and then with the one who looks at it. So, it is between these three elements that is the look that we have towards the work. And my eyes will not be the same as my neighbor's.
You have exhibited a Soulages work painted in 1968, where the painter signs his work on a white part of the painting. What does 1968 represent for Soulages ?
It's even a work of May-68! It corresponds historically to the events of May-68. But, she has nothing to do with these events. Soulages is not a painter of history or who tells stories. His work does not conform to historical events. But, it is not the same between 1946, 1968 and today, 2019. It is transformed.
What is the enigma of Pierre Soulages or around his works that you have not managed to solve ?
I do not know if there is an enigma. I think we're never done with a piece of art. It will always bring new ideas, new questions. We never finished, anyway.
► Soulages at the Louvre , exhibition in the Salon carré of the Louvre Museum, from December 11, 2019 to March 9, 2020.