Sea 1960

Rene Duvillier created this painting, Sea, using broad strokes of blue paint on what looks like paper. The gestural quality and abstraction of the sea calls into question the public role of art and its relationship to representation. Duvillier was part of a post-war generation who sought to capture a more internal, subjective experience. After the Second World War, the French art world saw a shift away from traditional art academies. Artists like Duvillier searched for new visual languages. This piece invites us to consider the politics of imagery. Is the ‘sea’ here a representation of nature or an expression of the artist’s inner state? What are the social conditions that fostered this kind of artistic production? These are the questions a historian of art might ask. To address them, we can look at exhibition histories, artists’ manifestos, and critical reviews from the period. Through such research, we get a deeper understanding of art as something rooted in its specific time and place.