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The XXth Century
BIOGRAPHY
Bernard BUFFET (1928-1999)
Bernard Buffet is recognised as a master in his art, and his paintings are collected in the most famous museums around the world. The Surugadaira Museum (Japan) is specially dedicated to his works and displays around 1,000 of his works. His paintings are strong and breathtakingly unforgettable. Bernard Buffet’s style can be recognised among others by a network of “dry” straight lines grey faces, wrinkled foreheads, scarce straight hair, tensed hands. His characters seemed crucified.
MUSEUM : Surugadaira (mus. Bernard Buffet), Clermont-Ferrand, Cluny, Marseille (mus. Cantini), Paris (mus. d’Art Moderne), Rome (mus. du Vatican), Toronto, Troyes, Villeneuve d’Asq, Genève, Lille.
Réf. 6345
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated ‘Bernard Buffet 58’
DIMENSIONS :
– 65 x 46 cm (97 x 78 cm encadré)
– 25 5/8 x 18 1/8 in. (38 1/4 x 30 3/4 in. framed)
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Certificate by Maurice Garnier’s Gallery
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PROVENANCE :
– Galerie David et Garnier
– Galerie David et Garnier
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This 1958 painting by Bernard Buffet depicts the Eiffel Tower, the emblem of Paris, seen from the rooftops of the city. True to his distinctive style, the artist structures the composition with thick black lines that define the space and emphasize the monument’s verticality. The blue sky, streaked with gray tones, lends the scene a cold and melancholic atmosphere. The Parisian rooftops, rendered in dark, angular shapes, evoke a still and silent city. Buffet does not portray a luminous or romantic Paris, but rather an austere, almost deserted urban landscape. The Eiffel Tower, standing tall like a graphic symbol, dominates the city with severe majesty. Through this vision, the artist transforms a symbol of modernity into an image of solitude and restraint, characteristic of his expressionist universe.
