Rating and value of works, lithographs, paintings by Pierre Soulages

French painter Pierre Soulages (1919-2022) is considered the pioneer of informal painting.

If you own a work of art by or based on the work of artist Pierre Soulages and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers can advise you. Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its value on the current market. Then, if you wish to sell your work of art, we will guide you towards the best possible means of obtaining the best possible price.

Artist's rating and value

Considered the leader of informal painting, Pierre Soulages exhibited widely during his lifetime. His reputation and presence on the art market were already immense. Today, his value continues to rise, and the artist has established himself as a sure bet on the auction market. A work by Soulages can fetch millions of euros at auction, as demonstrated by his oil on canvas Peinture, August 4, 1961, which sold for €15,271,320 at Sotheby's in 2021.

Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

Pierre Soulages: l'œuvre au noir

Pierre Jean Louis Germain Soulages was born in Rodez in 1919. His father, a coachbuilder, placed him early in a religious institution that was responsible for his education, and died when Soulages was still very young. He was raised by his mother and older sister, who had been marked throughout his childhood by the death of Armand Soulages. He was fascinated by the stones of Rouergue, which would later inspire his work. His vocation as an artist was discovered during a visit to the Abbey of Sainte-Foy de Concques, where he became fascinated by the details of Romanesque art. In the same years, he was also impressed by the paintings at Lascaux and Font-de-Gaume. This interest in the art of the Neolithic period and medieval art is a crucial and little-known point that gives meaning to his paintings and prints.

Soulages owes his first artistic experiments to landscape painting, copying Lorrain and Rembrandt, whose pictorial study would have a significant impact on his work. He trained in the studio of painter and lithographer René Jaudon, who quickly recognized his talent and entered him in the Beaux-Arts competition. He disliked the teaching, however, finding it too conformist. Mobilized in 1940 as a cadet, he was soon demobilized and taught for a while at the Montpellier School of Fine Arts. He refused to take part in the Obligatory Labor Service, and lived in seclusion in a vineyard in his native region.

At the end of the war, Pierre Soulages met Sonia Delaunay, who introduced him to abstraction. He took a keen interest in it, and stopped producing figurative works for good. Most of his work is now devoted to charcoal and the various techniques of engraving. He exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and many other venues throughout Europe. Later, he moved on to New York and Sao-Paulo. Kootz even organized a solo exhibition for him.

The posterity and legacy of outrenoir

Soulages' works are characterized by the use of black, a pigment that is the experience of his life. Malevitch achieved total abstraction with his Carré blanc sur fond blanc (White Square on White Background ); Soulages achieved his work withoutrenoir. In his view, this is a result that enables "black that ceases to be black [to become] a transmitter of clarity, of secret light". He describes it as "another mental field than that of black".

By the end of the twentieth century, Soulages had become world-famous, and numerous retrospectives were organized, sometimes individually, sometimes collectively, with Olivier Debré, Hans Hartung and Zoran Music, among others.

He designs and creates stained-glass windows for the Abbey of Sainte-Foy de Concques, decorating the building that revealed his vocation. In collaboration with the Manufacture de la Savonnerie, he also created two tapestries for the Ministry of Finance.

His recent death on the day of his 80th wedding anniversary moved the whole of France, which paid him a national tribute. 

His signature

Although there are variations, here is a first example of its signature:

Our team will be happy to help you identify your artwork.

Appraising your property 

If you own a work by Pierre Soulages, don't hesitate to request a free appraisal by filling in our online form. A member of our team of experts and certified auctioneers will contact you to provide an estimate of the market value of your work. 

If you are considering selling your work, our specialists will also guide you through the various alternatives available to obtain the best possible price, taking into account market trends and the specific features of each work.