NVP3D
Pierre Soulages
PainterKnown for:
"Outrenoir" black paintings spanning seven decades
Education:
École des Beaux-Arts, Montpellier; largely self-directed
Pierre Soulages developed his practice of painting in black - what he called "outrenoir" (beyond black) - across a career spanning more than seven decades, producing paintings in which light reflected from the textured black surface creates an infinite variety of visual experience. He is the oldest artist to have had a retrospective at the Centre Pompidou, which hosted the exhibition in 2009 when he was 90. The Musée Soulages in Rodez, his birthplace, opened in 2014.
Pierre Soulages's Gear List(1)
Generic
Connection Source
CentrepompidouWebsite
Connection note
Built thick black Outrenoir surfaces reflecting light differently depending on angle; used house-painting brushes and improvised tools
Product description
Oil paint — pigment suspended in a drying oil, typically linseed — has been the dominant painting medium since the fifteenth century. It dries slowly, allowing extended blending, and produces a rich, luminous surface. Available from dozens of manufacturers at student through professional grades.
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Last updated March 20, 2026
