Olivier Debré

(French, 1920–1999)

Olivier Debré was a French painter best known for his large-scale Color Field paintings. His exultant abstractions are reminiscent of the works of both Hans Hartung and Pierre Soulages. Throughout his career, Debré produced cavernous interior stage sets for established theaters, including the Hong Kong Opera, Parisian Comédie Française, and Théâtre des Abbesse. The artist has said of his work, "When I paint on the ground, there is a physical adherence that is sensual, almost sexual." Born on April 14, 1920 in Paris, France, he studied to become an architect at the École Normale Supérieure modeling himself after Le Corbusier, before changing course to become a painter. Later, he credited his transition from figurative painting to Abstraction Expressionism after a studio visit from