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Lot Essay
Wolfgang Paalen est né à Vienne dans une famille nantie qui encourage rapidement sa vocation artistique. Il étudie la philosophie et l’art au fil des pérégrinations familiales à Rome et Berlin notamment. À Berlin il fait la connaissance du grand critique d’art Julius Meier-Graefe qui l’introduit dans les cercles de la sécession berlinoise. Lors de ses voyages il rencontre Hans Hoffmann à Munich où fréquente Roland Penrose lorsqu’il séjourne dans le midi de la France. Paalen s’installe à Paris en 1929 où il travaille aux côtés de Fernand Léger et rencontre des artistes tels Hans Hartung ou Jean Hélion. Quelques années plus tard il rencontre André Breton et fera activement partie du cercle surréaliste parisien exposant systématiquement à leurs côtés. En 1939 il décide de quitter l’Europe, passe par New York où il rencontre les artistes qui allaient devenir les maitres de l’expressionnisme abstrait tels Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell ou Barnett Newman et s’installe finalement en 1941 au Mexique.
Wolfgang Paalen was born in Vienna to an affluent family and was encouraged to pursue art from an early age. He studied art and philosophy during his family's travels to various cities, including Rome and Berlin. In Berlin, he met the famous art critic Julius Meier-Graefe, who introduced him to the Berlin Secession. During these trips, he met Hans Hoffmann in Munich and spent time with Roland Penrose in the south of France. In 1929, Paalen moved to Paris, where he worked with Fernand Léger and met artists such as Hans Hartung and Jean Hélion. A few years later, he met André Breton and became an active member of Paris' community of surrealist artists and consistently exhibited his work alongside theirs. In 1939, he decided to leave Europe for New York, where he met artists who would later become the masters of abstract expressionism, including Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and Barnett Newman. He finally settled in Mexico in 1941.
"Les peintures ne représentent plus; ce n'est plus le rôle de l'art de répondre à des questionnements naïfs. Aujourd'hui, le rôle de la peinture est devenu celui de regarder le spectateur et lui demander: que représentez-vous?"
"Paintings no longer represent; it is no longer the task of art to answer naive questions. Today it has become the role of the painting to look at the spectator and ask him: what do you represent?"
W. Paalen in Foreword to Form and Sense, Problems of Contemporary Art I, New York, 1945, p. 6.
Wolfgang Paalen was born in Vienna to an affluent family and was encouraged to pursue art from an early age. He studied art and philosophy during his family's travels to various cities, including Rome and Berlin. In Berlin, he met the famous art critic Julius Meier-Graefe, who introduced him to the Berlin Secession. During these trips, he met Hans Hoffmann in Munich and spent time with Roland Penrose in the south of France. In 1929, Paalen moved to Paris, where he worked with Fernand Léger and met artists such as Hans Hartung and Jean Hélion. A few years later, he met André Breton and became an active member of Paris' community of surrealist artists and consistently exhibited his work alongside theirs. In 1939, he decided to leave Europe for New York, where he met artists who would later become the masters of abstract expressionism, including Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and Barnett Newman. He finally settled in Mexico in 1941.
"Les peintures ne représentent plus; ce n'est plus le rôle de l'art de répondre à des questionnements naïfs. Aujourd'hui, le rôle de la peinture est devenu celui de regarder le spectateur et lui demander: que représentez-vous?"
"Paintings no longer represent; it is no longer the task of art to answer naive questions. Today it has become the role of the painting to look at the spectator and ask him: what do you represent?"
W. Paalen in Foreword to Form and Sense, Problems of Contemporary Art I, New York, 1945, p. 6.