Pierre Soulages lived a very long life. At eighteen, he relocated to Paris with the aim of gaining admission to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, a goal he achieved. Nonetheless, disillusioned by what he perceived as the school’s mediocre instruction, he opted to return to his hometown of Rodez. While in Paris, he frequented the Louvre and encountered exhibitions featuring Picasso and Cézanne, experiences that profoundly influenced him.
Following the tumultuous years of World War II, starting in 1946, Soulages committed himself entirely to painting. He relocated to the outskirts of Paris, establishing a studio in Montparnasse, where he embarked on a distinctive artistic journey characterized by blackness and abstractionism, a departure from the semi-figurative and vividly colored works prevalent in the postwar period. From 1948 onwards, he actively participated in numerous exhibitions across Paris and Europe, including the Französische abstrakte malerei tour across several German museums. In 1949, the Lydia Conti Gallery in Paris held a solo exhibition dedicated to his work, while simultaneously, Soulages showcased his art in group exhibitions in New York, London, Sao Paulo, and Copenhagen. Between 1949 and 1952, he created three theatre sets and produced his initial etchings at the Lacourière atelier.
Throughout the 1950s, Soulages maintained a consistent presence in exhibitions. Notably, he participated in Advancing French art (1951), Younger European artists (1953) at the Solomon Guggenheim, and The New Decade (1955) at MoMA. Additionally, he exhibited regularly at the Kootz Gallery in New York and the Galerie de France in Paris. This period also marked the inception of institutional acquisitions of Soulages’ works, both in the United States and abroad. Notable institutions acquiring his pieces included the Phillips Gallery in Washington, DC; the Guggenheim and MoMA in New York; the Tate Gallery; the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio-de Janeiro; and the Musée National d’Art Moderne (now Centre Pompidou) in Paris. During the 1960s, the first retrospectives of Soulages’ work emerged, spanning locations such as Hanover, Essen, Zurich, and The Hague. A significant milestone occurred in 1966 with a showcase at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where Soulages unveiled his canvases suspended between floor and ceiling on taut steel cables, marking his debut in such a presentation style. In 1968, he collaborated with the Mégard workshop to create a ceramic wall for a building in Pittsburgh. Moving into the late 1970s, Soulages introduced his inaugural monopigment paintings at the Centre Pompidou. These works focused on the interplay of light reflecting off the surface of the black-painted canvas, a phenomenon generating a profound emotional resonance transcending mere optical effects. Soulages termed this innovative concept “noir-lumière,” or even more aptly, “outrenoir.”
From 1987 to 1994, Soulages created 104 stained glass windows for the abbey church in Conques. Simultaneously, he continued to produce paintings where the violent contact of black and white on the whole canvas surface gave rise to a new pictorial light, evoking rhythm, space, and luminosity.
In the early 2000s, Soulages is the first living artist to be invited to exhibit at both the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (2001). Demonstrating his deep attachment to his hometown, Soulages, alongside his wife Colette, generously donated 500 works to the Greater Rodez Community. This comprehensive donation encompassed his entire oeuvre, including etchings, lithographs, serigraphs, preparatory materials for the Conques-stained glass windows, paintings on canvas and paper, as well as various documents, books, photographs, films, and personal correspondence.
Several years later, Soulages and his wife further contributed to the cultural enrichment of the urban community of Greater Rodez by donating 14 paintings spanning from 1946 to 1986. This donation laid the groundwork for the inauguration of the Soulages Museum in Rodez in 2014, housing the largest monographic collection of the artist’s works to date. The institution’s inaugural temporary exhibition, Outrenoir en Europe, musées et fondations, was unveiled to the public. In 2007, the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, a place Soulages frequented during his youth, honoured him by dedicating a room to showcase the painter’s generous donation to the city. This collection comprised 20 paintings spanning from 1951 to 2006, featuring significant pieces from the 1960s, two notable Outrenoir works from the 1970s, and several large polyptychs.
For his 90th birthday in October 2009, the Centre Pompidou hosted the most extensive retrospective ever dedicated to a living artist, encompassing over 2,000 square meters of exhibition space. Concurrently, a painting measuring 300×236 cm created by Soulages on July 9, 2000, was displayed in the Salon Carré of the Denon Wing at the Louvre. Subsequently, the exhibition Soulages XXIe siècle was presented at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and later showcased at the Academy of France in Rome. This exhibition featured a collection of recent works produced between 2000 and 2012, including some pieces unveiled to the public for the first time.
In 2016, the Picasso Museum in Antibes unveiled Soulages. Papiers, an exhibition featuring a vast array of works sourced from both public and private collections. This exhibition followed the presentation titled Pierre Soulages: œuvres sur papier, organized between 2018 and 2019, which showcased 118 works from the Soulages Museum in their original setting.
Additionally, in 2019, numerous events paying tribute to the artist were held in France and abroad to celebrate his 100th birthday. These celebrations included the release of new book editions, as well as radio and television programs dedicated to Soulages. It was during this momentous occasion that three new paintings by the maestro were unveiled at the Louvre, as part of a mini retrospective also hosted in the Salon Carré of the Denon Wing.
Pierre Soulages passed away in Paris, surpassing the age of 100, in 2022.