© Musée Fabre / Montpellier Agglomération Simon Hantaï's work fulfills an essential role in the collections of an art museum such as the Musée Fabre, which include a number of abstract paintings from the 1950s onwards, most notably the Soulages donation. The creation of a representative collection of works is a fundamental part of the museum's cultural and academic mission. The Musée Fabre acquired its first work by Hantaï in 2002 – one of the so-called "signs" series, painted between 1956 and 1958. The picture was described in 1969 by the art historian Geneviève de Bonnefoi as "a group of explosive signs – yellow-orange, blue-green or pure red – pulsating in nocturnal space." The museum has acquired another work, from the 1964 series known as the Panses (literally "Bladders"), illustrating Hantaï's first use of pliage or folding. The invention of this technique marked a decisive turning-point in his work, and it became the basis for all of his later paintings. The motif emerges from the folds like a cut diamond, each facet painted with colour, in the centre of an otherwise spotless, untouched canvas.
The Musée Fabre is delighted to have been offered one of Simon Hantaï's white paintings, from 1974, from the private collection of Jean Fournier, who acted as his official dealer from 1954 onwards. The donation has been made by Jean-Marie Bonnet in memory of Jean Fournier, and reflects the Musée Fabre's close relationship with the Fournier Gallery. Jean Fournier was a pivotal figure in the great adventure of experimental painting in the latter half of the 20th century. His activities as a dealer are reflected in the collections of the Musée Fabre, and a special exhibition in his honour is planned for the museum's re-opening, in January 2007.
Simon Hantaï's work is based on the delicate balance between what is painted, and what is not. In the 1958 painting, the space left clear by the signs reveals the canvas's preparatory white undercoat. In the 1964 work, the bare, untouched canvas emerges as the counterpoint to the "bladder" motif. The Etudes or "studies" painted from 1969 onwards feature unpainted hollow furrows between folds in the canvas, whose ridges cut into the coloured surface.
In the white painting of 1974, the unpainted area invades the entire picture surface. But just as matter itself is composed of more void than atoms, so here, the canvas's very absence of paint holds the picture together. This central aspect of Simon Hantaï's work is nowhere more apparent than in the series of Blancs, or white paintings, created in 1973 and 1974. In this context, Jean-Marie Bonnet's donation from the Fournier collection represents a significant acquisition for the museum.
Blank silence, whiteness, absence, retreat – central themes for Simon Hantaï, an artist whose life and work have merged to become one and the same.