In France, Pierre Soulages is often compared with artists who practiced action painting. In his abstract paintings, gestures are indeed an important part.

Throughout his career, Soulages left aside colours, all except black, which he kept. By using his brush to streak his canvases with paint, or a blade for a smooth effect, he created surfaces that trapped the light as a sculpture would do.

Soulages’ paintings may have been entirely black, but they were radiant. Soulages often called them his outrenoirs: works beyond black.