Peinture aux formes variables

(juillet-octobre) 1966

Paint on canvas, white and green striped fabric, with alternate and vertical strips, each 8,7 cm wide ; white acrylic paint tracing a reserve with wavy countour on three sides, at the top, at the bottom, on the right

223.4 x 198 cm (87 15/16 x 77 15/16 in.)

A network of alternating vertical green and white stripes spreading across the surface of the wide canvas is interrupted on three of its sides by a loose, undulating reserve of white acrylic. Buren's early work Peinture aux formes variables belongs to the eponymous matrix series that launched his prolific career.

He made a commonplace pattern of two-tone stripes on a piece of fabric an artistic motif. In 1965, he began to make this series of impersonal paintings where the only accidents are the chromatic variations and the tenuous covering of certain borders. They were a milestone in his quest for "zero degree painting".

This version of Peinture aux formes variables is in the Pinault Collection alongside two others from the same series. It was exhibited during the 2009 "Mapping the Studio" show at the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana.
Exhibitions
Daniel Buren's other artwork