Designed by the Catalan company, ‘Catalan RCR Arquitectes’ the Museums succession of cubes covered with glass and weather-resistant steel, sit perfectly on the hillside within the park, with the colours of the structure echoing the work of Pierre Soulages. Passageways and openings offer various views of the gardens, the town and, in the distance, the Aveyron mountains.
'Musée Soulages is a museum in motion. It has a vast temporary exhibition for modern and contemporary art, architectural and theme-based exhibits. Although devoted to a single artist, the museum sees itself as a place in which to discover the techniques and mainsprings of artistic creation. As an extension of the building, the ingenious “Café Bras” is gourmet bistro designed to correspond with the work of Soulages.'
Musée Soulages Rodez.
Pierre Soulages was a French painter and printmaker and a major figure in the postwar abstract movement. He was a leader of Tachism, the French counterpart to Action painting in the United States, and was known for the restraint of his works and his preoccupation with the colour black. In parallel, Soulages worked with printer Lacourière, creating lithographs and numerous engravings by etching copper with acid. Together they produced, in total, around forty engravings and fifty lithographs.
'The encouragements of Lacourière who told me "Never worry, as long as there is copper, there is hope". And I remembered that, even when there was no copper, I mean, when one made a hole in it, something happened. Beginning from the moment when the plate is perforated, eaten by the acid, accidentally, I remembered that impression, the white of the paper appeared in the hole, clean, with its texture, its natural quality, unique to paper which has not been squeezed in the press. I applied myself to work in this way for my engravings, not only to perforate the copper plate, but also to change the outline, not being content with the rectangle, using a form which was birthed by accidents, accidents which were accepted, accidents chosen in the work of engraving copper with acid.' Pierre Soulages.
