« For the first time in history, painting has become a spectacle, and you can watch its creation as if you were attending a jam session. »
From the right to the tube
Son of a banker, Mathieu studied law, literature and philosophy. He began painting in 1942. In 1947, in Paris, he opposed geometric abstraction and organized the first demonstrations of lyrical abstraction. The stain gushes out of the tube, and speed becomes doctrine.
Painting in public, titling history
From 1950, the titles draw on the history of France. The canvas becomes a spectacle. Four rules: primacy of speed, no prior form, no premeditated gesture, ecstatic state. Retrospective at the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1963. Elected to the Académie des beaux-arts in 1975.
The signature outside the museum
10 franc coin (1974), Antenne 2 logo (1975), stamps, tapestries. He died on June 10, 2012 in Boulogne-Billancourt.
