Olivier DEBRE (1920-1999)

Grey Fjord, 1974. Oil on canvas, signed, dated and titled on the reverse. 24 x 33 cm. Signature on verso slightly visible on recto. Olivier Debré is a major representative of lyrical abstraction in France. A great traveler and excellent colorist, he travels many times to Norway where the cold colors of the silent and depopulated Fjords inspire him to create paintings such as the one presented here. A true tightrope walker on the border between the real and the abstract, Olivier Debré constructs a space without reference points simply by using the power of color, thus giving us a dreamlike, immaterial landscape that only a few skilfully placed horizontal strokes bring out of the sea. With this calm and timeless vision, conducive to reverie, Olivier Debré has established himself as one of the greatest French artists of the second half of the 20th century.