Emmanuel Macron will preside over the ceremony which will begin at 3 pm in the Cour Carrée du Louvre, in the presence of government members and the family of the artist known throughout the world in the world of painting for his paintings with infinite shades of black. It will be open to the public.
Born on 24 December 1919 in Rodez in an artisanal environment that fueled his imagination, Pierre Soulages, who became a world celebrity in French painting, died Tuesday evening of heart failure.
Fascinated by prehistoric times from an early age, the artist had worked extensively with the walnut stain before continuing with his large flat black areas of oil paint, which he scraped, scratched and shaped almost into the thickness of the painting, bringing out shades of red, blue and unexpected transparencies.
He had fallen into what he called “outrenoir” in 1979, when he was painting on a work entirely covered in thick black, streaked by accident.
Honors of the Louvre in 2019
For more than 75 years he tirelessly traced his own path, gaining recognition from the cultural institutions and the art market that made him one of the most respected French artists during his life.
One of his 1961 canvases sold for $ 20.2 million in New York in November 2021. The painting titled “Painting 162x130cm, May 2, 1963” was sold on Wednesday for nearly € 6 million, a Sotheby’s announced the evening.
He had already had the honors of a tribute to the Louvre in 2019, at the dawn of his 100th birthday. Until then, only Picasso and Chagall had had this privilege in their lifetime.
