Georges Mathieu

Georges Mathieu (1921–2012) was a pioneering figure of Lyrical Abstraction in postwar France: a major voice in gestural, spontaneous painting liberated from representation.

Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, he began painting in 1942. A decisive moment came in 1944, when reading an essay on Joseph Conrad led him to reject figuration and pursue a style based solely on form and rhythm. After moving to Paris in 1947, Mathieu joined artists like Wols, Hartung, and Atlan in leading an avant-garde offensive against academicism: for him, painting was a direct communication with cosmic forces through movement and mark-making.

A forerunner of performance-based painting, he began creating monumental canvases live on stage in the 1950s: most famously La Bataille de Bouvines and L’Abstraction prophétique. Though often compared to Eastern calligraphy, especially after his celebrated 1957 tour in Japan, Mathieu resisted such reductive labels.

A multidisciplinary artist, he also created furniture, ceramics, sculptures, jewelry, and designs for the Gobelins Tapestry Workshop.

His works are held in major museum collections, including the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and the National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo).