Ile de France 1935

"Ile de France" (1935) by Jean Helion (1904-1987), is a classic example of abstract art. This oil on canvas painting, currently displayed at Tate Modern, London, features a composition of geometric shapes and forms in various shades of blue, gray, white, and red. Helion, a French painter associated with the Abstraction-Création movement, used simplified shapes and a limited color palette to explore the relationship between form and space. His use of geometric forms and the absence of recognizable imagery reflects the key principles of abstract art. The painting's title, "Ile de France," hints at a possible connection to the historical region of Ile-de-France in France. However, Helion did not explicitly specify a representational meaning for the work.