Jean-Paul Riopelle

Jean-Paul Riopelle, born October 7, 1923 in Montreal and died March 12, 2002 in Saint-Antoine-de-l'Isle-aux-Grues, is a Canadian painter, printmaker and sculptor.

He became a member of the Automatists movement, close to surrealism, and settled in Paris at the end of the 1940s.

In France, at the beginning of the 1950s, he played an important role in the movement of abstract painting through his lyrical abstractions, experimenting with different techniques: painting with a brush and a knife, impasto with layers of materials akin to sculpture, projection of paint filaments (dripping) ...

Supported by the New York art dealer Pierre Matisse, he frequented American painters including Sam Francis and Joan Mitchell who was his companion for nearly 25 years.

From the end of the 1960s, his work became more figurative, with nature occupying an increasing part.

The works of Jean-Paul Riopelle are part of the largest public and private collections and appear in many museums around the world.