Antoni Clavé

ANTONI CLAVÉ (Barcelona, 1913 – Saint-Tropez, 2005).
“Rouge, noir, bleu,” 1960.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated “clavé 60” in the lower right corner.
Provenance: Maurice Garnier Collection, Paris.
Bibliography: Pierre Seghers, *Clavé*, Ediciones Polígrafa, Barcelona, 1972, no. 139, p. 163 (reproduced in color).
Registered in the Antoni Clavé Archives under no. 60HT45.
Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Nathalie Clavé, 2019.
In good condition, with isolated losses of paint on the lower edge.
Measurements: 150 x 144 cm.

Created in 1960 and large in scale, this work marks a decisive moment in Antoni Clavé’s artistic maturity, when the figures of kings and warriors that had dominated much of his output in the late 1950s began to dissolve into an increasingly autonomous visual language, dominated by the sign, the material, and color. The Antoni Clavé Archives themselves document compositions from 1960 such as *Grands guerriers* and *Guerrier au bouclier*, noting precisely during these years the progressive emancipation of painting from figurative representation. MACBA situates this evolution within his transition toward Informalism and experimental abstraction. antoni-clave.org

In “Rouge, noir, bleu,” Clavé structures the surface through an intense carmine field that envelops a broad central concentration of blacks and earthy tones. White, blue, and ochre strokes burst forth over this dark area, along with overlapping patches and almost calligraphic marks that retain certain figurative resonances without ever fully defining them. The small blue and white accents introduce points of light and movement, while the black masses concentrate the visual weight and lend depth to a deliberately expansive composition.

The title itself underscores the structural prominence of color. Red, black, and blue act as the true framework of the painting: red constructs an enveloping field, black organizes and densifies the space, and the blues interrupt the surface with brief, cool pulses. The large format enhances this confrontation between chromatic field, gesture, and material, placing the work squarely within the transformation that Clavé’s artistic language underwent in the early 1960s.

Antoni Clavé trained at the Llotja in Barcelona and, after settling in France in 1939, developed a career of broad international scope. In 1954, he abandoned set design for good to focus on painting; he received the UNESCO Prize for Printmaking at the 1956 Venice Biennale and the Matarazzo Prize for Painting at the São Paulo Biennial, and in 1958 he held a major exhibition at the Galerie Creuzevault in Paris. His institutional recognition culminated in major retrospectives in Paris in 1978 and in the extensive presentation of his work at the Spanish Pavilion at the 1984 Venice Biennale. His work is represented, among other institutions, at the MACBA and the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.