Allégresse 1989

Paul Guiragossian made this painting, Allégresse, with a kind of joyous energy, it seems, using these thick strokes of colour, almost like he’s building up the figures from blocks of pigment. There’s something really physical about the way Guiragossian applies the paint; you can almost feel the pressure of the brush against the canvas. Look at the way he layers the colours – the yellows and oranges, the blues and greens – they’re not blended, but kind of stacked on top of each other. And these elongated figures, they emerge from this process, becoming these ghostly, ethereal forms. I love how Guiragossian uses the white paint to create these delicate, almost translucent figures, like they're floating within the composition. It reminds me of some of those early expressionist painters, like Kirchner, who were also trying to capture a sense of inner emotion through colour and form. Ultimately, I think Guiragossian is showing us that painting is not just about representation, it’s about transformation.