Musée du Niel

In 2026, the Musée du Niel is showing a new perspective on its collection.

Following the exhibition that explored the origins of the collection through Jean Grenier’s Interviews with 17 non-figurative painters in 2023 and the encounter of Two Avant-Gardes, from the Nouvelle École de Paris to Supports/Surfaces in 2024, and recently, Dubuffet and the Magicians in 2025, which consisted mostly of figurative depictions, in 2026, we will be turning to Abstraction is a colour, looking at abstract expression from a colour perspective.

This exhibition sets out to highlight the relationship that developed between colour and abstraction in the second half of the 20th century. This relationship is characterised by rivalry and conflict. Colour struggled to break through in the post-war aesthetics of abstract expression, which was typically resistant to bursts of colour. Dominant colour palettes were often dark, rarely venturing out of black, white and grey.

Toward "colour abstraction"

Nevertheless, some artists like Dewasne managed to impose a colourful vision by articulating expression through geometric configurations or by using the lyrical power inherent in colour like Mathieu, Schneider, Poliakoff, Hartung, and now, Fabienne Verdier or even like Hantaï who made colour itself the central aspect of his work. Across the Atlantic, artists vigorously claimed Matisse’s legacy by declaring colour as the essential component of their abstract work whilst reinventing painting. This is true of Shirley Jaffe and Sam Francis.

It is from this series of struggle, resistance, renewal and interconnectedness that both vibrant and dark sensations, emotions and even dialogue arose which we could call “colour abstraction”.

Antoine Villeneuve, exhibition curator