875 - Judit Reigl (1923, Kapuvár, Hungary – 2020, Marcoussis, France)

Judit Reigl (1923, Kapuvár, Hungary – 2020, Marcoussis, France) Déroulement (Fragment) Oil on fabric, mounted on canvas. 2009. Approx. 27 x 41.5 cm. Signed and dated on the reverse of the canvas. The work is listed on the artist’s website under “0683P.” • Vibrant pink against a deep, dark background creates a fascinating dynamic full of rhythm, lightness, and expressive energy. • A captivating late work from 2009, part of the significant Déroulement series • Internationally acclaimed by museums and honored with a major exhibition at the Museum Reinhard Ernst in Wiesbaden in 2026/27 Sometimes a single movement is enough to bring an entire painting to life. In Judit Reigl’s *Déroulement*, luminous pink brushstrokes break through an almost black background. Like a fleeting dance, the trails of color unfold across the canvas—light, rhythmic, and full of energy. Behind this apparent spontaneity lies an extraordinary mastery of color, space, and movement. Judit Reigl is one of the most fascinating figures in postwar European abstract art. Born in Hungary in 1923, she fled to Paris in 1950. There, André Breton arranged her first solo exhibition in 1954. She soon broke away from Surrealism and developed an independent style of gestural abstraction in which her own body became an instrument of painting. As early as 1957, Reigl was the only female artist represented in the groundbreaking exhibition “Couleur vivante – Lebendige Farbe” at the Städtisches Museum in Wiesbaden. The exhibition ranks among the key encounters in European informal painting and attests to Reigl’s early recognition in what was then a male-dominated art world. The series *Déroulement*, begun in 1973, occupies a central place in her body of work. The title—which means “unfolding” or “process”—refers to the ceaseless flow of movement and time. Using unconventional painting techniques and the rhythmic movement of her body, she creates abstract traces of color that resemble a mysterious script. In 2009, Reigl revisited this significant artistic concept: the present painting attests to the unbroken creative power of her late work. Her international significance is reflected in renowned museum collections such as those of the Centre Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art. Following the solo exhibition “Kraftfelder” at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (2023), the Museum Reinhard Ernst in Wiesbaden will honor the artist in 2026/27 with “Judit Reigl. Couleur vivante”—an exhibition that builds on the historic event of 1957 and places the artist at the center of the show. A fascinating late work full of rhythm, lightness, and painterly freedom—a small masterpiece of timeless expressiveness. Exhibition: Judit Reigl. Dessins-Peintures, Galerie Laurentin, Brussels 2013. Provenance: Galerie Laurentin, Brussels, label on the reverse of the canvas; Galerie de France, Paris, label on the reverse of the canvas; Private collection, France; Private collection, Northern Germany. Taxation: subject to margin scheme (VAT: Margin Scheme).