BOUQUET DE FLEURS 1930

Georges Valmier made this geometric bouquet with gouache, playing with shapes and flat colours. You can imagine him, brush in hand, carefully filling in each section, almost like a puzzle. I wonder if Valmier felt like he was arranging real flowers as he painted? There’s a kind of tenderness in the way he’s pieced together these forms, thinking about balance and harmony, but also about tension. Look how the sharp angles push against the curves, creating a lively rhythm across the surface. I think this work stands out to me because of how the solid shapes create such a playful, dynamic composition. It reminds me a little of Léger's work, the way he simplifies forms to their essential geometry. It’s like they're both in conversation, riffing on similar ideas, pushing each other to see the world in new ways. Painting, after all, is just a big conversation between artists across time. We're all just borrowing and stealing from each other, trying to make something new.