Helion Jean (1904-1987) Violin Vanity 1957

HELION Jean (1904-1987)
Vanity with violin 1957
Pastel, gouache and ink
18 x 24.5 cm
Signed and dated 1957 lower right

For Jean Hélion, objects are pure Objects in the rarefied air of the painting and create a strangeness by the object being displaced from its usual use. These are objects that one day struck him, separately or together. Any subject depicted on the canvas must have something seen.

Jean Hélion crosses the 20th century, with its wars, fascism, the Cold War, communist totalitarianism, and opposes all this as an idealist man to create a happy, harmonious order like the humanist in the depths of his cell. His painting moves towards clear, accessible, and readable colors and shapes that represent his thoughts; color is mental and for him, it is no longer the local tone.