19. 19AR JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE (1923-2002) Atlantica 1969 signed oil on canvas signed oil on canvas 80.5 x 100 cm. 31 11/16 x 39 3/8 in. Made in 1969. Provenance Marguerite Maeght Collection, Paris Gift to the current owner, August 1970 Bibliography Yseult Riopelle, Tanguy Riopelle, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Catalogue Raisonné, Tome 4, 1966-1971, Montreal 2014, p. 170, n°1969.006H.1969, illustrated in black and white Atlantica, created in 1969, carries within it the secret love we share with a work of art, kept out of sight for more than fifty years, where the canvas, for having been chosen and loved, has become, over the years, a face that unties everything in us so much the heart abandons itself entirely to it. For there are landscapes that are states of the soul. In each of Riopelle's works, perception sharpens our desire to perceive, because the painter retains only the wind's breath and only the water's light from the storm. His art is a battleground, a place where the senses we attribute to him are made and unmade. In thick layers, he stretches out the oil, whose faculties, nuances and interpenetrations of drips and drying cracks the artist delights in rediscovering, making the material the only guide for our gaze. Riopelle, in a suspended frolic, has endowed painting with life. "This painter is one of a short list of creative geniuses" were the words spoken by the Prime Minister at Riopelle's state funeral in Canada in 2002. As a meeting point between two civilisations, his art established a synthesis between Europe and North America: to extract is not to abstract. The Centre Georges Pompidou and the Fondation Maeght, in 2022-2023, have organised major exhibitions highlighting the academicism (in the noble sense of the term) and transgression that his two masters Henri Bisson and Paul-Emile Borduas taught him. Riopelle chose the path of disorder early on, making mutation the product of experience, not intention. From the Automatism group in Canada, he naturally joined the Surrealism group, having met Breton on his arrival in Paris in 1947. Two years later, the avant-garde gallery La Dragonne and Nina Dausset offered him his first solo exhibition. Véhémences confrontées, at the instigation of Michel Tapié, brought together works by Mathieu, Riopelle, Hartung, Bryen and Pollock in an unprecedented exhibition in 1951. 1953 brought the painter the recognition he had been hoping for: Pierre Loeb acquired a large number of his works and had him exhibited with Pierre Matisse in New York. Invited to take part in the famous exhibition Younger European Painters: A Selection at the Guggenheim Museum that same year, Riopelle met Franz Kline and Joan Mitchell... At the end of the 1950s, Europe's leading collectors were passionate about this artist, whose sensitive works throw us into the emotion of presence. When Riopelle paints a tree, he retains only the writing of its branches in the sky. Under his brush, the legible is transformed into a fertile invisibility, offering a clarity that is not born of light but of its reflection. Aimée and Marguerite Maeght's discerning eye was not mistaken, and they devoted several exhibitions to the painter from 1966 onwards. Atlantica, the fruit of their generosity, was a gift to our collectors, who had the privilege of choosing it. The words they wrote to the painter a few years later reveal a love that has never waned: "I have been looking at your canvas for twenty years now, diving from my bed into your Atlantica, the milky voluptuousness of the whites, the spirituality of the light blues, etc.". The emotion, half a century later, is still palpable in the eloquent choice of these words that tremble... Name of a paleocontinent, the title of this painting has the sovereignty of innocence and the nebulous quiver of a prayer whispered to heaven. The painter knows that the wind will carry it to him. Atlantica, created in 1969, carries within it the secret love one shares with a work of art; kept out of sight for over fifty years, the canvas, having been chosen and loved, had become, over the years, the soothing features one turns to as indeed the heart can trust them so completely. It is true that some landscapes reflect the states of one's soul. In each of Riopelle's works, perception sharpens our desire to perceive, for of the wind the painter only retains its breath and of the storm only the luminosity of the water. His art is a battleground, a space where are made and unmade the messages we perceive in it. In thick layers, he spreads out the oil, the faculties, nuances, interpenetration of drips and drying cracks of which the artist delights in rediscovering; thus matter is the sole guide to our gaze. Riopelle, in a moment of joyous intercourse, endows paint with life. "This painter is one of a short list of creative geniuses" were the words spoken by the Prime Minister at Riopelle's state funeral in Canada in 2002. As a meeting point between two civilisations, his art was able to produce a synthesis of Europe and North America: to extract is not to abstract. The Centre Georges Pompidou and the Fondation Maeght, in 2022-2023, organised major exhibitions highlighting the academicism (in the noble sense of the term) and transgression that his two masters Henri Bisson and Paul-Emile Borduas taught him. Riopelle chose the path of disruption early on, making mutation the product of experience, not intention. From the Automatism Group in Canada, he naturally joined that of Surrealism, having met Breton on his arrival in Paris in 1947. Two years later, the avant-garde gallery La Dragonne and Nina Dausset offered him his first solo exhibition. Véhémences confrontées, at the instigation of Michel Tapié, brought together works by Mathieu, Riopelle, Hartung, Bryen and Pollock in an unprecedented 1951 exhibition. 1953 gave the painter his expected recognition: Pierre Loeb acquired a large number of his works and had him exhibited by Pierre Matisse in New York. Invited to take part in the famous exhibition Younger European Painters: A Selection at the Guggenheim Museum that same year, Riopelle met Franz Kline and Joan Mitchell... At the end of the 1950s, Europe's leading collectors were passionate about this artist, whose sensitive works threw us into an emotion of presence. When Riopelle paints a tree, he retains only the writing of its branches in the sky. Under his brush, the legible is transformed into a fertile invisibility, offering a clarity that is not born of light but of its reflection. Aimée and Marguerite Maeght's discerning eye was not mistaken; they devoted several exhibitions to the painter from 1966 onwards. Atlantica testifies to their generosity, as it was a gift to our collectors, who had the privilege of choosing it. The words they wrote to the painter a few years later reveal a love that was never tarnished: "I have been looking at your canvas for twenty years now, diving from my bed into your Atlantica, the milky voluptuousness of the whites, the spirituality of the light blues, etc.". Half a century later, the emotion is still palpable in the eloquent choice of these vacillating words... The name of a Paleocontinent, the title of this painting possesses the sovereignty of innocence and the nebulous quiver of a prayer whispered to the heavens. The painter knows that the wind shall carry it above.