Nicolas de Staël
Paysage
Date 1953
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 65.2 x 80.6 x 2.4 cm
Inventory ID UID 102-549
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On his return from the United States in July 1953, Nicolas de Staël moved to a village in Lagnes, near Avignon. He proceeded to paint the surrounding countryside. This landscape, whose location has not been identified, undoubtedly dates from the beginning of this summer in Provence. De Staël worked with thick paint, making it heavier or lighter with a palette knife or trowels. Afterwards, he set off on a journey to Italy, and from his return at the end of the year the rough and primitive effect created by the paint would become lighter, almost opalescent, with a brighter palette, up until his very last canvas, Le Concert, some months later, in 1955.
Nathan Gallery, Zürich; Galerie 1900–2000, Paris; acquired in 1995.