Nicolas De Staël : Du Trait À La Couleur

In this book, Anne de Staël, the painter's eldest daughter, brings together her childhood memories with a reflection on the relationship between drawing and painting. In poetic language, the author shows how the drawing in the work of Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955), one of the greatest colourists of the twentieth century, underpins colour. The interweaving of blacks and whites also served to exalt the light at the heart of the pigment.

So this is not an art historian's analysis, but the viewpoint of a child who grew up with this painting and who, as an adult, has sought to unravel the mystery of the creation she witnessed in part. Until now, the link between the line of the drawing - Indian ink, charcoal, graphite - and the density of the colour had never been so clearly established.

This richly illustrated book is enriched with letters and writings by the painter, enabling us to rediscover the whole of Nicolas de Staël's work.