André Masson

ANDRÉ MASSON (Balagny-sur-Thérain, 1896- Paris, 1987).
"Migration à la source", 1957.
Tempera on canvas.
Signed, titled and dated on the back.
Provenance: Louise Leiris Gallery (label on the back). Private collection, Monaco.
Exhibition: "Masson à Issoire", Galerie Louise Leiris (label on the back).
Attached certificate of the Masson Committee.
Measurements: 73 × 91 cm; 80 x 99 cm (frame).

This work reflects Masson's conception of art as an almost cosmic experience, in which the pictorial gesture connects the human being with the deep forces of life and nature. It fully represents his contribution to post-war European abstraction, situated between the surrealist heritage and gestural painting, and confirms his role as a key figure in the transition towards a freer, more poetic and existential painting.

After his initial links with surrealism and automatism in the 1920s, Masson evolved towards a freer and more gestural language, where the sign, rhythm and matter acquire an almost organic protagonism. This is evident in this painting.

In this painting, done in tempera, the artist builds a vibrant surface from splashes and almost calligraphic signs. The grayish background acts as a field of energy. The title suggests an idea of return to the origin, recurrent in Masson, understood as a search for the essential, the instinctive and the archaic.

André Masson trained at the School of Fine Arts in Brussels, and after living in Paris, he traveled to America, returning to Europe in 1945. His work has been exhibited wherever he has lived, as well as at the Venice Biennale in 1954 (Grand Prize for Painting). His work is held in numerous private collections and institutions such as the MoMA in New York, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Tate, the Cleveland Museum of Art, etc.