“Colour is, par excellence, the part of art that holds the magic gift. While subject, form and line are primarily intended to engage the mind, colour holds no meaning for the intellect, but has all the power over the senses.”
Excerpt from The Journal of Eugène Delacroix, 1852.

Form, gesture, and ultimately colour.

Gérard Schneider’s work gave colour a central role in the late 1960s, making it the structural element of his creative process.

The artist’s work developed through three major and distinct phases: his apprenticeship in form and composition, followed by a transformative embrace of gesture – the liberating gestural expression that gave rise to Lyrical Abstraction, of which Schneider is considered a leading figure – and finally, the introduction of colour.

Colour as attainment.

While form and gesture retained traces, remnants of representation, language, structure or writing, colour represented a further step towards abstraction. Beginning in 1944-1945, Schneider sought to free his work from reality altogether, abandoning any semblance of representation – a quest he would pursue for the rest of his career. From his increasingly refined form to a calligraphic gesture that was imperious and volcanic, it was the use of pure colour that gave his abstraction full expression – as formulated and foreshadowed more than twenty years earlier.

Schneider’s documentation and research into colour began in the mid-1930s, as he crafted a personal philosophy over numerous notes, carrying out an in-depth and critical examination of two theoretical approaches to the subject. Schneider wanted to anchor his research beyond the world of art, going back to the origins of the theoretical approach to the concept of colour. The two authors impelling this research were Isaac Newton (Opticks, 1704) and Goethe (Theory of Colours, 1811). Although these approaches stood in stark contrast, Schneider did not align with either; instead, he sought a synthesis, pursuing a need for continuity, a vision uniquely his own. Two additional foundational texts appear frequently in Schneider’s notes: The Journal of Eugène Delacroix and Wassily Kandinsky’s Concerning the Spiritual in Art and Painting in Particular (1911). Notably, Kandinsky’s original version of this work (1904) was titled Definition of Colour and contained a critical study of Goethe’s colour theories.

The emergence of large expanses of colour in Schneider’s work coincided with a major upheaval in his painting technique. Like many other artists, he discovered acrylic-based paint around 1966-1967. This was far from incidental for Schneider – it was not a question of “ease” or “economy”, but above all of a revolution in his creative process. Due to its rapid drying time, acrylic paint allowed him to create a coloured space encompassing the entire canvas without abandoning his gestural style. Previously, this effect was only achievable with gouache and ink on paper – which accounts for the great sense of freedom that emanates from his graphic work.

Coloured space truly took possession of the canvas. The term “space” is used here deliberately: the omnipresent colour tangibly creates a space – even a new dimension within the composition. It is indeed a significant dimension. By no means a background or a kind of receptacle, this pure, sometimes uniform-looking colour adds an extra dimension – it plunges the viewer’s gaze deeper into the work, almost seeming to make the boundaries of the canvas disappear. Yet the artist’s paintings do not necessarily tend towards monochrome. The skilful juxtapositions of tones, the vibrations of colour, the contrasts between flat tints and his restless gestural style remain. It is within this synthesis that Schneider’s style of painting is now defined.

Just as music cannot be described formally, colour eludes words – it appeals first and foremost to the senses. Colour cannot be fully conveyed in words; it is autonomous and selfsufficient. This autonomy and independence – so valued by Schneider – became central to his creative work; they provided him with a primordial, untouched element of language, capable by its very presence of expressing that which eludes analytical understanding. Above all, leaving room for emotion and sensibility.

Christian Demare
Co-author of the Catalogue Raisonné of Gérard Schneider
November 2024

Biography of Gérard Schneider

GÉRARD SCHNEIDER
(1896-1986)

GÉRARD SCHNEIDER & THE YEARS OF STUDY (1916-1937)
Gérard Schneider was born in Sainte-Croix in Switzerland in 1896 and spent his childhood in Neuchâtel where his father was a cabinetmaker and antique dealer. At the age of 20, he went to Paris to study at the École nationale des arts décoratifs, and then in 1918 entered the studio of Fernand Cormon at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris. Cormon had also taught Vincent van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

In 1922, Gérard Schneider settled permanently in Paris. The 1920s and 1930s were marked by a long period during which he learned different techniques and the history of painting. In 1926, Gérard Schneider’s exhibition took place for the first time at the Salon d’Automne. The work he showed, L’Allée hippique (Horse Pathway), attracted attention. He also frequented musical circles in Paris. He exhibited five paintings, including Figures dans un jardin (Figures in a Garden) at the Salon des Surindépendants of 1936, which were appreciated by the critic of La Revue Moderne: “a style, figures of such agility that the expression of movement seems to have been included in the rapid technique”. He also discovered the artistic movements of the century of upheavals and tragedies during this period.

In the mid-1930s, the painter Gérard Schneider assimilated the revolution initiated by Kandinsky’s abstraction, while also exploring the new horizons introduced by Surrealism. He no longer painted from reality. His palette darkened, black now occupied an important position and formed structures. He wrote poems and frequented the Surrealists: Luis Fernandez, Oscar Dominguez, Paul Éluard and Georges Hugnet.

GÉRARD SCHNEIDER TOWARDS ABSTRACTION (1938-1949)
From 1938, the titles of Gérard Schneider’s paintings no longer referred to reality: the three sent to the Salon des Surindépendants were called Composition. In 1939, he met Picasso. Around 1944, his painting definitively abandoned all references to reality.

In 1945, the Musée National d’Art Moderne bought one of Gérard Schneider’s paintings (Composition, 1944). In the effervescence of the immediate post-war period, Gérard Schneider’s art played a pioneering role in the birth of a new form of abstraction. In Paris, the painter Gérard Schneider and other precursors proposed a return to the radicality of abstraction, a form of abstraction that no longer had any connection with the real and perceptible world and would become a landmark, it matched the aesthetic imperatives of this transitional period: it was called Lyrical Abstraction.

GÉRARD SCHNEIDER & THE “YEARS OF GLORY” (1950-1961)
Alongside artists such as Jean-Michel Atland, André Lanskoy, Georges Mathieu and especially Hans Hartung and Pierre Soulages with whom he formed sincere friendships, Gérard Schneider very quickly saw his work acquire an international dimension. From the mid-1940s, major exhibitions grouping the main members of Lyrical Abstraction were organized in Paris, especially at the galleries of Lydia Conti and Denise René.

Abroad, at major travelling exhibitions, the public discovered this vital creative momentum: around Germany from the late 1940s: this was the exhibition Wanderausstellung Französischer Abstrakter Malerei (Travelling exhibition of French abstract paintings) which circulated throughout West Germany between 1948 and 1949. Schneider’s works were exhibited immediately afterwards in the USA: at the Betty Parsons Gallery (in 1949 and 1951) and in the major travelling exhibition Advancing French Art that was shown all over the country, from Chicago to San Francisco. Between 1955 and 1961, the Samuel Kootz Gallery in New York was his exclusive dealer in the USA and his representative there. The painter Gérard Schneider joined his friend Pierre Soulages in this prestigious gallery. The Phillips Gallery of Washington bought Opus 445 of 1950 and New York’s MoMA bought Opus 95 B of 1955.

In 1956, Gérard Schneider married for the second time, his wife was Loïs Frederick an American woman artist who had come to Paris to study art on a Fulbright scholarship, whom he met through Marcel Brion. Around the same time, Schneider met Eugène Ionesco.

Exhibitions were held successively around the world. From the early 1950s, Gérard Schneider’s works were exhibited in Europe: for example, in Brussels where there was a first retrospective in 1953, then a second one in 1962 in association with the Düsseldorf Kunstverein. He also participated in the first two editions of Documenta in Kassel in 1955 and 1959. Gérard Schneider exhibited three times at the Venice Biennale, in 1948, 1954 and 1966. In 1957, he won the award Prix Lissone.

His works also travelled regularly, to Japan from 1950 until the early 1970s, especially for the International Exposition of Art. In addition, for the International Art Exhibition in Tokyo in 1950, he was awarded the prize of the Governor of Tokyo. The painter Gérard Schneider also showed several times at the São Paulo Biennale: in 1951, 1953 and 1961. During the 1961 edition, Jean Cassou, chief curator of the Musée National d’Art Moderne of Paris, asked Schneider to create four canvas paintings 2 x 3 m for a
group of ten large format works that were exhibited.

GÉRARD SCHNEIDER & THE “YEARS OF ENLIGHTENMENT” (1962-1972)
During the 1960s, he maintained a close connection with the Milan-based dealer, Bruno Lorenzelli who held many exhibitions of his work around Italy. This decade of change saw Gérard Schneider’s painting acquiring more colour, becoming freer while the gesture acquired a definitively calligraphic dimension.

Yet again, Gérard Schneider’s work evolved and echoed the aesthetic aspirations of his time as much as a complex interior process that had begun many years earlier. A synthesis of the notions of form, colour and space.

At the 1966 Venice Biennale, an entire room of the French Pavilion was devoted to his work. Similarly, a major retrospective was held of his work in Turin in 1970 where about a hundred paintings were exhibited at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna. This was a great success, and then the exhibition continued at the “Terre des Hommes” Pavilion in Montreal.

GÉRARD SCHNEIDER : MATURITY AND THE LARGE WORKS ON PAPE R (1973-1986)
At over 70, Gérard Schneider’s art continued its effervescence. The fire was still as intense. The volcanic eruption of colour more fervent than ever, as if his work was destined never to be extinguished. Exhibitions of the painter Gérard Schneider continued at the same pace, such as those held by the Galerie Beaubourg in Paris.

This fire, this energy, required a speed of execution that only paper seemed to allow. At the start of the 1980s, he turned towards this support almost exclusively. This is how, in the intimacy of his studio, large and luminous compositions full of colour were born, enflamed, the unreal beauty of which continue to fascinate.

The painter Gérard Schneider left this world on July 8th 1986 at the age of 90 and bequeathed us an oeuvre that was both simultaneously unfathomable in its aesthetic complexity and yet so close, so human and so sensitive. In 1998, Michel Ragon published a major monograph on his work.

In collaboration with Laurence Schneider, daughter of the artist, Diane de Polignac Gallery coordinated the Catalogue Raisonné of Gérard Schneider. This foundational work has been available online since 2022.

Solo shows

• 2022
  – Gérard Schneider, Lyrisme(s), Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Independant Art Fair – Galerie Perrotin, New York, NY, États-Unis
• 2020
  – Gérard Schneider, La naissance du geste, œuvres sur papier 1944-1959, Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, France
  – Le geste et la couleur, œuvres sur papier des années 1960, Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, Franc
  – Gérard Schneider, On Paper, 1944-1959, Galerie Aliénor Prouvost, Bruxelles, Belgique
• 2017
  – Gérard Schneider 1945-1955, de l’abstraction au lyrisme, Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, France 2014
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Bertrand Trocmez, Clermont-Ferrand, France
• 2013
  – Gérard Schneider, Rétrospective, Musée des beaux-arts d’Orléans, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Abstrait lyrique, Galleria Spazia, Bologne, Italie
• 2012
  – Gérard Schneider, Abstrait lyrique, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider – The Lyrical Abstraction as Asceticism, Galerie Artvera’s, Genève, Suisse
• 2011
  – Gérard Schneider, Grands gestes pour un grand monde, Musée d’Art & d’Histoire, Neuchâtel, Suisse
• 2008
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria d’Arte Maggiore G.A.M., Bologne, Italie
• 2007
  – Schneider – La métamorphose du lyrisme. Parcours 1916-1986, Musée de l’Hôtel-Dieu, Mantes-la-Jolie, France
• 2006
  – Schneider, Los años 50, Fundación BBK, Bilbao, Espagne
  – Schneider, au cœur de l’abstraction lyrique, Musée de Millau, Millau, France
  – Schneider, œuvres majeures, FIAC, Galerie Applicat-Prazan, Grand Palais, Paris, France
  – Schneider, œuvres majeures, Galerie Applicat-Prazan, Paris, France
• 2005-1998
  – Schneider, Rétrospective, Angers ; Bourges ; Clermont-Ferrand ; Cahors ; Carcassonne ; Montbéliard ; Quimperlé ; Le Mans ; Millau ; Metz, France
• 1993
  – Gérard Schneider, Espace Saint-Jean, Melun, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Maison de la Culture, Nevers, France
• 1992
  – Gérard Schneider, Palais des Festivals, Biarritz, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Musée Hébert, Grenoble, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Château d’Amboise, France

• 1991
  – Gérard Schneider, Scène Nationale, Cherbourg, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Espace Athanor, Guérande, France
• 1990
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Proarta, Zurich, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Musée Pierre von Allmen, Thielle-Wavre, Neuchâtel, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Heyram, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Prazan-Fitoussi, Paris, France
  – Schneider, Galleria Tega, Milan, Italy
• 1989
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Heyram, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Vega, Paris, France
  – Schneider, Galerie Prazan-Fitoussi, Paris, France
  – Schneider, Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence, France
• 1988
  – Gérard Schneider, Maison des Princes, Pérouges, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Heyram, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Royal Fine Arts, Genève, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Léa Gredt, Luxembourg
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie ML Muller, Auvernier, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Évry, France
• 1987
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Heyram, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italie
• 1986
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Ditesheim, Neuchâtel, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Hélène Trintignant, Montpellier, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie am Zuriberg, Zurich, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Saint-André, Savone, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Château de Pondres, festival de Montpellier, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Pierre Huber, Genève, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Peccolo, Livourne, Italie
  – Hommage à Gérard Schneider, PACA, Angers ; Cholet ; Saumur, France
• 1985
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Léa Gredt, Luxembourg
  – Gérard Schneider, Salle d’expositions municipales, Nancy, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Kunstmesse, Galerie Pierre Huber, Bâle, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Sapone, Nice, France
• 1984
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Jacqueline Storm, Lille, France
• 1983
  – Rétrospective, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Neuchâtel, Suisse / Musée d’Art Contemporain, Dunkerque, France
  – Fiac, Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris, France

• 1982
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Art 62, Cannes, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Studio d’arte contemporanea Dabbeni, Lugano, Suisse
• 1979
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Kandinsky, Madrid, Espagne
• 1978
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Lucas, Gandia, Espagne
  – Gérard Schneider, Kunstmesse, Galerie Flaviana, Bâle, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Flaviana, Locarno, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Centre culturel, Ris-Orangis, France
• 1977
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France
• 1976
  – Gérard Schneider, Festival des arts, Reykjavik, Islande
  – Gérard Schneider, Institut Français, Oslo, Norvège
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie d’Orsay, Cannes, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Le Dessin, Paris, France
• 1975
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Albert Verbeke, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Art Club Frédéric Gollong, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie la Main de Fer, Perpignan, France
  – Temperas de Gérard Schneider, DEXA Galeria de Arte, Panama
• 1974-1975
  – Gérard Schneider, Instituts Français, Amérique Latine
  – Gérard Schneider, Maisons des jeunes et de la culture de Belleville, Paris ; Thonon-les-Bains ; Toulouse, France
• 1974
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Cavalero, Cannes, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Protée, Toulouse, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria La Nuova Città, Brescia, Italie
• 1973
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Paul Bruck, Luxembourg
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria R. Rotta, Gênes, Italie
• 1972
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Protée, Toulouse, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Cazenave, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Cavalero, Cannes, France
• 1971
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria La Nuova Loggia, Bologne, Italie
• 1970
  – Gérard Schneider, rétrospective, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, Turin, Italie / Pavillon Terre des Hommes, Montréal, Canada
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Salles des Expositions municipales, Vitry-sur-Seine, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Cavalero, Cannes, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Gilles Corbeil, Montréal, Canada
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Falchi, Milan, Italie
• 1968
  – Gérard Schneider, Centro culturale Antonio Rosmini, Trente, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria San Fedele, Milan, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Institut Français, Rabat / Centre Culturel Français, Casablanca, Maroc
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Martano Due, Turin, Italie
• 1967
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Institut Français, Barcelone, Espagne

• 1966
  – Biennale de Venise, Italie
• 1965
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Lorenzelli, Bergame, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Gallerie Flaviana, Locarno, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Musée des beaux-arts, Verviers, Belgique
•  1964
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria II Centro, Naples, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria II Cancello, Bologne, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Argos, Nantes, France
• 1962
  – Gérard Schneider, retrospective, Kunstverein, Düsseldorf, Allemagne / Palais des beaux-arts, Bruxelles, Belgique
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Kriegel, Paris, France
• 1961
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Arditti, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Im Erker, Saint-Gall, Suisse
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italie
• 1960
  – Gérard Schneider, Minami Gallery, Tokyo, Japon
  – Gérard Schneider, Nakanoshima Gallery, Osaka, Japon
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Lorenzelli, Milan, Italie
• 1959
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie du Musée de poche, Paris, France
• 1958
  – Gérard Schneider, Galleria Apollinaire, Milan, Italie
  – Gérard Schneider, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
• 1957
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne, Allemagne
  – Gérard Schneider, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
• 1956
  – Gérard Schneider, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
• 1955
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne, Allemagne
• 1954
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Arnaud, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Galanis, Paris, France
• 1953
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne, Allemagne
  – Gérard Schneider, rétrospective, Palais des beaux-arts, Bruxelles, Belgique
• 1952
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Ex-Libris, Bruxelles, Belgique
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne, Allemagne
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Otto Stangl, Munich, Allemagne
  – Gérard Schneider, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Allemagne
• 1951
  – Grard Schneider, Galerie de Beaune, Paris, France
  – Gérard Schneider, Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
• 1950
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Lydia Conti, Paris, France
• 1948
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Lydia Conti, Paris, France
• 1947
  – Gérard Schneider, Galerie Lydia Conti, Paris, France
• 1920
  – Gérard Schneider, Galeries Léopold Robert, Neuchâtel, Suisse

Selected Group shows

• 2022
  – Showroom, Galerie Perrotin Secondary Market, Paris,
  France
• 2020
  – La Libération de la peinture, 1945-1962, Fondation Gandur pour l’Art & Mémorial de Caen, Caen, France
• 2018
  – L’art abstrait des années 50, Espace Musées Aéroport Paris-Charles de Gaulle – Terminal 2E, Roissy, France
• 2017
  – Le Geste et la Matière – Une abstraction « autre » (Paris 1945-1965), Fondation Clément, Le François, France
• 2016
  – Hartung et les peintres lyriques, Fonds Hélène & Édouard Leclerc pour la Culture, Landerneau, France
• 2014
  – L’aventure d’une passion. Gilbert Delaine, un homme, un musée, LAAC, Dunkerque, France
  – Abstraction lyrique, Paris 1945-1995, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordanie
• 2013
  – Montparnasse / Saint-Germain-des-Prés, six regards sur l’abstraction lyrique, Musée de Tessé, Le Mans, France
• 2012
  – Montparnasse / Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Un certain regard sur l’abstraction lyrique, Anciennes écuries des ardoisières, Trélazé ; Montparnasse / Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Abstractions d’après-guerre, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, France
  – L’Art en guerre, France 1938-1947, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
• 2011
  – Les Sujets de l’abstraction, Peinture non-figurative de la Seconde École de Paris (1946-1962), Fondation Gandur pour l’Art & Musée Rath, Genève, Suisse ; Musée Fabre, Montpellier, France
  – Regard sur l’abstraction lyrique / Montparnasse et Saint-Germain-des- Prés, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Carcassonne, France
• 2009
  – FIAC, Dialogues I Autour de Pierre Soulages, Galerie Applicat-Prazan, Grand Palais, Paris, France
  – Paris Central. Vrije stad, vrije kunst in de jaren’50’, Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Amstelveen, Pays-Bas
  – Explosions lyriques : La peinture abstraite en Suisse 1950-1965, Musée d’art du Valais, Sion, Suisse
• 2008
  – Les années 50-60 – Gildas Fardel, un collectionneur d’art abstrait, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France
  – 1945-1949, Repartir à zéro, comme si la peinture n’avait jamais existé, Musée de Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, France
• 2006
  – L’Envolée lyrique, Paris 1945-1956, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, France
• 2005
  – Informale. Jean Dubuffet e l’arte europea 1945-1970, Foro Boario, Modène, Italie
• 1997
  – Made in France 1947–1997, 50 ans de création en France, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, France
• 1996
  – 1946, L’art de la reconstruction, Musée Picasso, Antibes, France
• 1994
  – Abstraction-Figuration, de la nécessité de la peinture, divers lieux, France
• 1990
  – La France à Venise, le pavillon français de 1948 à 1988, Peggy Guggenheim Foundation, Venise, Italie
• 1989
  – L’Europe des grands maîtres, Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, France ; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Séoul, Corée du Sud

•  1988
  – Abstrakte Landskaber, Kunstmuseum, Randers, Danemark
  – Sammlung T, Kunstmuseum, Saint-Gall, Suisse
  – Aspect de l’art abstrait des années 50, divers lieux, France
  – Linien II: 47-50, Statens museum for Kunst, Copenhague, Danemark
  – Abstractions lyriques – Paris 1945-1955, divers lieux, France
• 1987
  – L’art en Europe, les années décisives 1945-1953, Musée d’art moderne, Saint-Étienne, France
• 1985
  – Kunstmesse, Bâle, Suisse
• 1984
  – Charles Estienne et l’Art à Paris – 1945-1966, Centre national des Arts plastiques, Paris, France
• 1983
  – FIAC, Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris, France
• 1981
  – Paris-Paris. Créations en France, 1937-1957, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
  – Abstraction Lyrique – Hommage à Michel Ragon, Château du Tremblay, Fontenoy, France
  – 1937-1957 – Abstraction Lyrique, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France
• 1979
  – Escola de Paris, 1956-1976, Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbonne, Portugal
  – FIAC, Galerie Beaubourg, Grand Palais, Paris, France
  – École de Paris 1956-1976, Wspólczesne Malarstwo Francuskie, divers lieux, Pologne
  – Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts: Gemalde, Skulpturen, Collagen, Objekte, Environments, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Allemagne
• 1978-1979
  – Permanence de la Peinture Française, Italie, Espagne, Pologne
• 1974
  – 9 peintres de l’École de Paris, divers lieux, Portugal
  – Maîtres de l’Abstraction Lyrique Européenne, Degottex -Hartung – Mathieu – Riopelle – Schneider – Soulages – Wols, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France
  – Donation Gildas Fardel, Musée des beaux-arts, Nantes, France
• 1971-1972
  – Panorama de l’Art Contemporain, Iran, Égypte, Grèce, Turquie, Syrie, Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie, Liban
  – 25 ans de peinture en France, 1945-1970, Corée du Sud, Inde, Chili, Colombie
• 1968
  – Painting in France 1900-1967, Washington ; New York : Boston ; Chicago ; San Francisco ; Détroit ; Montréal, États-Unis et Canada
  – Peintres d’aujourd’hui en France, Tchécoslovaquie
• 1966
  – 33e Biennale de Venise, Italie
  – Schweizer Malerei und Plastik 1945-1965, Allemagne
  – L’École de Paris – Peinture française, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montréal, Canada
  – Contemporary Art: Acquisitions 1962-1965, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, États-Unis
  – La Peinture française contemporaine, Amérique du Sud
• 1964
  – 32e Biennale de Venise, Italie
  – École de Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, France
• 1962
  – Le Salon de Mai au Japon, Tokyo, Osaka, Japon
  – École de Paris, Londres ; Cardiff ; Liverpool ; Aberdeen, Royaume-Uni
• 1961
  – 6e Biennale de São Paulo, Brésil
  – Moderne Malerei seit 1945 aus der Sammlung Dotremont, Kunsthalle, Bâle, Suisse
  – French Painting Today, Art Museum, Denver, CO, États-Unis

• 1960
  – Festival d’art d’avant-garde – Décors pour un spectacle imaginaire, Pavillon américain – Porte de Versailles, Paris, France
  – La peinture Française d’aujourd’hui, divers lieux, Israël
  – École de Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, France
• 1959
  – Documenta, Cassel, Allemagne
  – School of Paris 1959: The Internationals, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, États-Unis
  – Peinture française de Gauguin à nos jours, divers lieux, Pologne
  – The fifth international art exhibition of Japan, divers lieux, Japon
  – Collection et donation Gildas Fardel, Musée des beauxarts, Nantes, France
  – Six peintres de l’École de Paris. Atlan, Bergman, Bryen, Hartung, Schneider, Soulages, Galerie Kaare Bernsten, Oslo, Norvège
  – Mostra Nazionale di Pittura – XI Premio Lissone 1959, Lissone, Italie
• 1958
  – Cicero, Knaths, Plate, Levee, Schneider: Paintings, Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL, États-Unis
  – Hommage à Léon Degand, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
  – The 1958 Pittsburgh Bicentennial International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, États-Unis
  – Contemporary Art: Acquisitions 1957–1958, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, États-Unis
  – École de Paris – Französische malerei der Gegenwart, Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Allemagne
  – École de Paris 1958, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, France
  – De Franske, Fredriksberg Radhus, Copenhague, Danemark
• 1957
  – Incantations, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
  – 4th International Art Exhibition of Japan (4e biennale de Tokyo), Tokyo ; Kyoto ; Nagoya ; Fukuoka, Japon
  – 14 Paintings and Sculptures, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
  – Mostra Nazionale di Pittura – X Premio Lissone 1957, Lissone, Italy
  – École de Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, France
• 1956
  – Expressionism, 1900-1955, Minneapolis ; Boston ; San Francisco ; Cincinnati ; Baltimore ; Buffalo, États-Unis
  – Art in France today, Arizona Art Foundation, Scottdale, AZ, États-Unis
  – 1er festival d’art d’avant-garde, Cité radieuse, Marseille, France
  – Recent European Acquisitions, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, États-Unis – École de Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, France
• 1955
  – Documenta, Cassel, Allemagne
  – The Third International Art Exhibition, Japon
  – Tendencias recientes de la pintura fancesa 1945–55, Espagne
  – Recent French Acquisitions: Soulages, Mathieu, Schneider, Dubuffet, Fauves, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
  – Hartung, Schneider, Soulages, Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne, Allemagne
  – Mostra Nazionale di Pittura – IX Premio Lissone 1955, Lissone, Italie
• 1954
  – 27e Biennale de Venise, Italie
  – Internationale Sezession 1954, Städtisches Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Cologne, Allemagne
  – Collection Fernand Graindorge, Kunsthalle, Bâle, Suisse
  – Situation de la peinture d’aujourd’hui, Galerie Ariel, Paris, France
  – École de Paris 1954, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, France

•  1953
  – International Art Exhibition, Japon
  – 2e Biennale de São Paulo, Brésil
  – Collection Dr O. Domnick, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas ; Palais des beaux-arts, Bruxelles, Belgique
• 1952
  – Malerei in Paris heute, Kunsthaus, Zürich, Suisse
  – Actuelle École de Paris, Kursaal, Ostende, Belgique
  – Berliner Neue Gruppe mit Französischen Gästen, Hochschule für Bildenen Künste, Berlin, Allemagne
  – Peintres d’Aujourd’hui – France-Italie, Musée de Lyon, Lyon, France
• 1951-1952
  – Advancing French Art, Washington ; San Francisco ; Louisville ; Bloomington ; Baltimore ; Ann Arbor ; Kansas City, États-Unis
• 1951
  – 1ère Biennale de São Paulo, Brésil
  – Hartung, Lanskoy, Schneider – gouaches, pastels, Galerie Louis Carré, Paris
  – L’École de Paris, 1900-1950, Royal Academy of Arts, Londres, Royaume-Uni
  – Exposition d’Art français contemporain, Japon
• 1950
  – Rythmes et Couleurs, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, France
• 1949-1950
  – De Manet à nos jours, Amérique du Sud
• 1949
  – Painted in France, Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY, États-Unis
  – Hartung, Schneider, Soulages, Galerie Lydia Conti, Paris, France
  – Peintures et sculptures abstraites, Galerie Colette Allendy, Paris, France
  – Del arte figurativo al arte abstracto, Modern Art Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentine
• 1948-1949
  – Wanderausstellung Französischer Abstrakter Malerei, Stuttgart ; Munich ; Düsseldorf ; Hannovre ; Hambourg ; Francfort ; Fribourg, Allemagne
• 1948
  – 24e Biennale de Venise, Italie
  – Sculptures et peintures contemporaines, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
  – Prises de Terre, Peintres et sculpteurs de l’objectivité, Galerie René Breteau, Paris, France
  – Hartung, Schneider et Servranckx, Galerie Lydia Conti, Paris, France
  – Tendances de l’art abstrait, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
• 1947
  – Peintures abstraites, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
  – 3e Salon de Mai, Paris, France (tous les ans jusqu’en 1987)
• 1946
  – 1ère exposition de Domela Hartung Schneider, Salle du centre des recherches de la rue Cujas, Paris, France
  – Peintures abstraites : Dewasne, Deyrolle, Marie Raymond, Hartung, Schneider, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
  – Le Salon 1946, Musée de beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
  – 1er Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Paris, France (1946-1949 puis 1956-1958 et 1960-1973)
• 1936-1938, 1945-1947
  – Salon des surindépendants, Paris, France

Selected bibliography

Articles by Gérard Schneider
« Pour et contre l’Art Abstrait », Arts, 10 décembre 1948
« Développement logique et continu du figuratif au nonfiguratif », Les Beaux-Arts, 6 mars 1953
« Sens de l’art moderne », Zodiaque, janvier 1954
« Écrits d’artistes », Cimaise, décembre 1958
« Terre des Peintres », Parler, n° 8-9, 1959
« Considerazioni del pittore Schneider sulla propria arte », L’Eco di Locarno, 1er avril 1965
« Le premier lyrique de l’abstraction », numéro spécial de XXe siècle dédié à Kandinsky, 1er décembre 1966
« Pratique de la couleur, libre improvisation », Skira annuel, 1976
« Kandinsky l’esprit de la peinture pure », Arts, 5 février 1982

Illustrated books
Robert Ganzo, Langage, douze lithographies en couleurs de Gérard Schneider, Paris, Galerie Lydia Conti, 1948
Eugenio Montale, Poèmes, huit dessins et une lithographie de Gérard Schneider, Milan, All’Insegna Del Pesce d’Oro, 1964
Gérard Schneider, Mots au vol, poèmes, préface d’Eugène Ionesco, dix reproductions de dessins de Gérard Schneider, Paris, Éditions Saint-Germain-des Prés, 1974
Gérard Schneider, Extraits critiques, courts poèmes, neuf sérigraphies interchangeables, Locarno, Galerie Flaviana, 1978

Monographs
Marcel Pobé, Schneider, Paris, Georges Fall, coll. Le Musée de Poche, 1959
Michel Ragon, Schneider, Amriswill, Bodensee Verlag, 1961
Marcel Brion, R. V. Gindertael, Schneider, Venise, Alfieri, 1967
Jean Orizet, Schneider Peintures, Paris, La différence / l’autre musée, 1984
Gérard Xuriguera, Schneider, Gandia, Cimal. 6, 1985.
Michel Ragon, Schneider, Angers, Expresssions contemporaines, 1998

Exhibition catalogs
Roger van Gindertael, Schneider, œuvres récentes, cat. expo. (nov. 1961), Paris, Galerie Arditti, 1961
Marcel Brion, Giuseppe Marchiori, Schneider, cat. expo. (févr. 1961), Milan, Galerie Lorenzelli, 1961
Karl-Heinz Hering (dir.), Gérard Schneider, cat. expo. (20 mars–23 avr. 1962), Düsseldorf, Kunstverein Düsseldorf, 1962
Marcel Brion (prés.), Gérard Schneider, cat. expo. (juin 1962), Bruxelles, Palais des beaux-arts de Bruxelles, 1962
Marco Valsecchi (préf.), Schneider, cat. expo., Bergame, Galerie Lorenzelli (nov. 1965), Milan, Galerie Lorenzelli, 1965
Giorgio Kaisserlian, Gérard Schneider, pitture, cat. expo. (oct. 1968), Milan, Galerie San Fedele, 1968
Eugene Ionesco, Luigi Mallé, Giuseppe Marchiori, Gérard Schneider, cat. expo. (16 avr.–24 mai 1970), Turin, Galleria civica d’Arte moderna, 1970
Georges Boudaille (préf.), Schneider, cat. expo., Paris, galeries Beaubourg et Verbeke (mars 1975), Paris, Galerie Beaubourg, 1975
Gérard Xuriguera, Gérard Schneider, una aventura patetica e inspirada, cat. expo. (30 sept.-26 oct. 1978), Gandia, Galerie Lucas, 1978
Pierre von Allmen (dir.), Jean-Marie Dunoyer, Schneider, cat. expo. (26 févr.–17 avr. 1983), Neuchâtel, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Neuchâtel, 1983
Michel Faucher, Schneider, cat. expo. (18 juin–12 sept. 1983), Dunkerque, Musée d’Art contemporain de Dunkerque, 1983
Giuseppe Marchiori (préf.), Gérard Schneider, cat. expo. (avr.–mai 1986), Livourne, Galerie Peccolo, 1986
Gérard Schneider, Gérard Xuriguera, Michel Ragon, Eugène Ionesco, Omaggio a: Gerard Schneider, cat. expo., Milan, Galerie Lorenzelli (nov.–déc. 1986), Milan, Lorenzelli Arte, 1986
Pierre von Allmen (av.-pr.), Georges Boudaille (préf.), Schneider, Les années cinquante, cat. expo. (7 juill.–28 oct. 1990), Thielle- Neuchâtel, Musée Pierre von Allmen, 1990
Michel Ragon, Pierre von Allmen, Schneider, cat. expo. (17 mai–15 juill. 1990), Zürich, Galerie Proarta, 1990
Éric Fitoussi, Gérard Xuriguera, Schneider, cat. expo. (28 sept.–15 nov. 1990), Paris, Galerie Prazan-Fitoussi, 1990
Daniel Chabrissoux, Loïs Frederick, Gérard Schneider : œuvres de 1916 à 1986, cat. expo., Angers et divers lieux (1991-1993), Angers, Expressions contemporaines, 1991
Patrick-Gilles Persin, L’Envolée lyrique Paris 1945-1956, cat. expo., Paris, Musée du Luxembourg (26 avr.–6 août 2006), Milan, Skira, 2006
Nicolas Morales, Schneider, Los años 50, cat. expo., Bilbao, Fundación BBK (25 jan.–17 avr. 2006), Bilbao, Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa Fundazioa, 2006
Éric de Chassey (dir.), Éveline Notter (dir.), Justine Moeckli et al., Les sujets de l’abstraction. Peinture non-figurative de la seconde École de Paris, 1946-1962. 101 Chefs- d’œuvre de la Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, cat. expo., Genève, Musée Rath (6 mai–14 août 2011) / Montpellier, Musée Favre (3 déc. 2011–25 mars 2012), Milan, 5 continents, 2011
Patrick-Gilles Persin, Sofia Komarova, Gérard Schneider (1896- 1986) : l’abstraction lyrique comme ascèse, cat. expo., Genève, Galerie Artvera’s (23 nov. 2012–22 mai 2013), Genève, Galerie Artvera’s, 2012
Claudio Cerritelli (préf.), Gérard Schneider, abstrait lyrique, cat. expo. (15 nov. 2012–19 jan. 2013), Milan, Lorenzelli Arte, 2012
Claudio Cerritelli, Schneider, cat. expo. (jan.–mars 2013), Bologne, Galleria Spazia, 2013
Xavier Douroux (dir.), Hartung et les peintres lyriques, cat. expo., (11 déc. 2016–17 avr. 2017), Landerneau, Fonds Hélène & Édouard Leclerc pour la Culture, 2016

GÉRARD SCHNEIDER
ESPACES COLORÉS
Œuvres 1970-1978

Exposition du 21 novembre au 21 décembre 2024

Galerie Diane de Polignac
2 bis, rue de Gribeauval, Paris
www.dianedepolignac.com

Traduction : Lucy Johnston
Conception graphique : Galerie Diane de Polignac

© Galerie Diane de Polignac, Paris, 2024
Les textes sont la propriété des auteurs

© ADAGP, Paris 2024 pour les œuvres de Gérard Schneider
Droits réservés

Catalogue raisonné de Gérard Schneider :
https://www.gerardschneider-catalogueraisonne.com/fr/