Considered one of the great masters of 20th-century art, Balthasar Klossowski de Rola -Balthus- is undoubtedly one of the most unique painters of his time. His work, diverse, ambiguous and as admired as it was rejected, followed a path virtually contrary to the development of the avant-garde movements. The artist himself explicitly points out some of his influences in the art-historical tradition, from Piero della Francesca to Caravaggio, Poussin, Géricault or Courbet. On closer inspection, references can also be seen to more modern movements, such as Neue Sachlichkeit, as well as to the resources of popular illustrations from 19th-century children's books. In his detachment from modernity, which could be described as 'postmodern', Balthus developed a personal and unique form of avant-garde art, a figurative style far removed from any label. His personal pictorial language, with forceful forms and very defined contours, combines the procedures of the old masters with certain aspects of surrealism and his images embody a great number of contradictions, mixing tranquility with extreme tension, dream and mystery with reality or eroticism with innocence. The exhibition, curated by Raphaël Bouvier, with the support of Michiko Kono, and Juan Ángel López-Manzanares, and this accompanying catalogue, brings together key paintings from all stages of his career since the 1920s, shedding light on the various forms of intellectual interaction in his paintings between the dimensions of space and time, the relationship between figure and object, as well as on the essence of his enigmatic work.
Texts by Raphaël Bouvier, Michiko Kono, Juan Ángel López-Manzanares, Beate Söntgen, Olivier Berggruen, Wim Wender, Ubaldo Sedano, Susana Pérez, Andrés Sánchez Ledesma, Yves Guignard and Christine Burger.
Dimensions: 24 x 28 cm (width x height)
184 pages
Spanish softcover binding
ISBN: 9788417173289
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