Pierre Alechinsky

PIERRE ALECHINSKY (Belgium, 1927).
"Un brin de fraîcheur", 1961.
Oil on canvas.
Signed at lower left.
Dated on the lower right.
Provenance: Private collection, Monaco
Exhibitions: Alechinsky, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven,March-April 1963 (label on the back). 40 ans d'Art Belge, Rio de Janeiro (label on the back).
The buyer will receive a certificate of authenticity from the artist dated March 13, 1989.
Measurements: 146 × 98 cm.

"Un brin de fraîcheur" is a key work of Pierre Alechinsky's early period and is situated at the height of the effervescence of his pictorial language in the early 1960s, following his association with the COBRA group (Copenhagen-Brussels-Amsterdam). In this painting, the surface becomes a dynamic field of wide and fluid gestures, where color seems to spring up and move with an almost organic energy.

The composition, apparently free and spontaneous, responds to an internal logic based on the continuous movement of the stroke. The forms intertwine and dissolve into each other, evoking plant motifs, ambiguous creatures or mental landscapes, without ever reaching an explicit figuration. This ambiguity is characteristic of Alechinsky, who understood painting as a space of visual writing, influenced both by oriental calligraphy and surrealist automatism.

Executed in 1961, the work belongs to a decisive moment in the artist's career, when he begins to consolidate a personal style that combines the gestural freedom of COBRA with a growing compositional awareness. The presence of this work in international exhibitions, such as the one at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, confirms its relevance within Alechinsky's production and its role in the renewal of post-war European painting.

Alechinsky is one of the most relevant contemporary Belgian artists. A founding member of the COBRA group (1948-1951), he developed an oeuvre deeply influenced by automatism, oriental calligraphy and gestural painting. Throughout his career he has worked indistinctly in painting, drawing and graphic work, exhibiting in leading international institutions. His work is kept in important institutions such as the Marion Lefebre Collection in Los Angeles, the Galerie Leolong in Paris, the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the MoMA, etc.