Orange-Gris-Bleu 1974

Olivier Debre, a French painter, made this artwork with oil paint, but the date is unknown. Imagine the studio when he made this! It looks like the painting came into being through shifting veils of thinned-down color. Orange-Gris-Bleu – it's got all of those, in gentle hues, like mist. I can really sympathize with Debre because I also use intuition a lot when I paint. I wonder if he thought of a landscape, or maybe just the feeling of one? It’s not exactly thick, but you can see how he layered and dragged the paint, creating these soft, luminous areas. The little drips along the bottom edge suggest a spontaneous gesture, a letting go. You know, that kind of ‘leave it’ moment. I guess that Debre was in conversation with the work of other painters that were playing with color and space, like Rothko or maybe even Turner. Ultimately, paintings like this remind us that art is an ongoing experiment, where artists share ideas across time, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways.