Pierre Soulages

French painter born in Rodez in 1924. After a short and disappointing period at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, he continued to paint and draw in function of his inspiration. He turned directly to an abstract and sombre style. Black is a recurring and dominant characteristic of his work, differing in its brilliance or dullness, by its degree of intensity as defined by the play of light. An important retrospective of his work was held at the Centre Pomidou in 2009-010.