Simon Hantai
Classical Surrealism Oil paintingAcrylic paintingCanvas folding (pliage)
About
In the 1960s, Hantai developed his signature pliage method, blending Surrealist automatism with Abstract Expressionism, producing series like Meuns (1967-1968) while living in the Forest of Fontainebleau from 1966. He became a French citizen in 1966 and represented France at the 1982 Venice Biennale. Disillusioned with art world commercialization, he withdrew publicly from the mid-1980s to early 2000s, declining exhibitions and commissions like the Paris Opera ceiling. He resumed exhibiting in 1997, donating works to Paris and the Pompidou Center, and died in Paris in 2008, leaving a legacy of innovative abstraction.
Abstract art, influenced by Surrealism and evolving to Lyrical Abstraction and Art Informel
Selected Exhibitions
- First solo exhibition Paris (1953)
- Venice Biennale representing France (1982)
- Retrospective at Pompidou Center
- Donations to Pompidou Center and City of Paris (1997)