Inspired by the wild winds that can sweep across the sea, Paul Fournier—one of Canada’s most significant abstract artists has created a colourful and dynamic composition. Enigmatic, fluid shapes in gold, indigo, yellow, blue, purple, green and red dance across a neutral horizontal canvas.

Fournier received early praise from the distinguished NY art critic, Donald Kuspit who described his colourful Fauvist-like work as that of an ‘exotic modernist.’ Fauvism was a post-impressionist movement in France (think Matisse) characterized by an imaginative use of colour. In the sixties, Fournier was part of a group of gifted Toronto painters…Milly Ristvedt, K.M. Graham and David Bolduc, among them who explored the techniques and forms of abstraction.

“As a painter I’m doing the same thing with colour, shape and movement that a musician does.” Paul Fournier

He was born during the Great Depression in Simcoe, Ontario. He first studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1959 and went on to study printmaking at McMaster University in Hamilton in 1967. Fournier also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from McMaster in 1996 where he’d also been the artist in residence.
During a career that spans six decades, Fournier has had solo exhibitions in several Canadian cities and in the U.S. His work is held in private collections in North and South America, and Europe. Public collections include the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Sculpture Garden in Washington and the Tate Museum in London.