From September 17, 2025 to January 11, 2026, the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris presents Soulages, une autre lumière, the first exhibition entirely devoted to the paintings on paper of Pierre Soulages (Rodez, 1919 - Nîmes, 2022). The exhibition, produced by GrandPalaisRmn and curated by Alfred Pacquement and Camille Morando, brings together 130 works, more than 30 of them previously unpublished, mainly from the Musée Soulages in Rodez.
Although Soulages never established a hierarchy among media, his work on paper has remained more overshadowed than his paintings on canvas. Yet, paper represents a fundamental component for understanding his visual research. Since 1946, the artist has been making works on paper with broad, marked traces using brou de noix, a natural ink employed by cabinetmakers, prized for its transparency, opacity and luminosity in contact with the white of the paper.
In 1948, still early in his exhibition career, Soulages was invited to participate in a major traveling exhibition on French abstraction in German museums. His was the work chosen for the exhibition’s affiche, contributing to his early notoriety. The paintings on paper exhibited there, made with poor materials but confident gestures, are distinguished by their graphic force, dense marks that occupy space with hierarchical structure and visual simultaneity, in contrast to traditional drawing.
In the 1950s, while he exhibited sporadically in France, Soulages conquered the U.S. scene thanks to the Kootz Gallery in New York, which regularly presented his works. During that decade, while experimenting with different techniques and rhythms, he maintained a predilection for brou de noix. Some compositions on paper reveal formal affinities with paintings on canvas, emphasizing the coherence of a visual language developed on several fronts.
In the 1960s, Soulages worked between Paris and Sète and participated in numerous international retrospectives. Works on paper were presented in significant numbers, and in 1963 the Galerie de France devoted an exclusive exhibition to these works, displaying some 50 sheets produced between 1946 and 1963. It is in this context that Michel Ragon publishes the first monograph on the subject, confirming the relevance of this side of his work.
The following decade is marked by a new intensity of production. In 1977 Soulages temporarily abandons canvas to concentrate almost exclusively on paper. In that year he produced a hundred or so large-scale gouaches, later presented at the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain and the Galerie de France. These works are distinguished by a compositional monumentality and gesturalism that runs through the entire sheet, while others introduce gradations of gray or shades of blue already present in coeval paintings.
With the beginning of the outrenoir cycle in 1979, Soulages experiments with entirely black surfaces on canvas that reflect light by modulating its intensity. Works on paper become less frequent but do not disappear. In the 1990s and 2000s, the artist resumes this medium with new techniques, including the use of lead pencil on a black background or the application of ink through removals and imprints. He finally returns to brou de noix to compose dark horizontal bands that allow intense whites to emerge.
The Musée du Luxembourg exhibition unfolds in a sober and environmentally friendly setting, with white walls serving as a visual score for works arranged according to rhythmic intervals and pauses. The itinerary also includes films and interviews of the artist, providing a context to his production. The entire exhibition structure favors recycled and sustainable materials.
Born in Rodez in 1919, Soulages was one of the leading figures in post-World War II abstraction. He produced more than 1,700 paintings on canvas, about 800 on paper, more than a hundred etchings, three bronze sculptures, a series of goudrons, tapestries, and a ceramic. In 1994 he created the stained glass windows of the Sainte-Foy de Conques abbey, and in 2014 a museum dedicated to him was opened in his hometown. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 102. The Musée du Luxembourg exhibition provides an opportunity to read his journey from a different perspective, through the lens of a medium perhaps less celebrated but central to his pictorial vision.
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| "Soulages, une autre lumière" at Musée du Luxembourg: 130 works on paper by Pierre Soulages |
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