Pierre Soulages, Brou de noix, 1948, © Adagp, Paris 2009

Soulages, the "painter of black and light," is recognized for  his ability to produce different shades of black through light and texture. The show opens with his works on paper and tar on glass followed by his paintings accomplished during the better-known period of his career from 1950-1970.

In the rooms that follow, the exhibition spotlights Soulages' more recent work which forms his ‘Outrenoir' or ‘Ultra-Black' period. Here the artist splits the spectrum of the colour black through the exploitation of reflected light and texture.  

The Centre Pompidou held its first large scale exhibition of Pierre Soulages in 1979. The current show looks back over more than 60 years of painting and offers a new reading of the artist's oeuvre, with an emphasis on the more recent developments in his work.

Soulages. Galerie 1, level 6. Until March 8th, 2010 at the Centre Pompidou, Paris 4e, Metro: Rambuteau, Hôtel de Ville.