Les Tulipes 1928

Georges Valmier made Les Tulipes using oil paint, with its playful dance of colours. It is a party of shapes: a bulbous vase with polka dots, a long green stem, and a blue bloom. I can imagine Valmier playing with those simplified forms – trying out what felt right to him. The hard edges of the blocks of colour create an assertive composition. But the soft curves of those biomorphic shapes seem to nod to the language of Surrealism, which was kicking off around the time he made this. The black outline around these shapes gives them a crisp definition, a cartoonish quality almost. The tension between the background and foreground, the interplay of geometric and organic forms, remind me of other great painters. Valmier seems to be in conversation with Léger or Picasso, maybe even Matisse, those artists who embraced the joy of colour and form! It reminds me that being a painter means contributing to the conversation of art history. Each artist brings something new to the party!