Jean Paul Riopelle1923–2002 · Montréal · Île-aux-Grues · Paris
"Matter flung from the palette knife the way a flock of geese rises on the Côte-Nord."
A 1948 signatory of Refus global, Jean Paul Riopelle carried Canadian lyrical abstraction onto the world stage from Paris, before returning, at the end of his life, to the St. Lawrence — Île-aux-Grues, the snow geese, the Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg. His 1950s palette-knife mosaics, bronze sculptures and the final fresco Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg (1992, MNBAQ) hold the top tier of Canadian auction prices. The 2023 centenary and the 2025 opening of the Espace Riopelle at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec have reopened the secondary market with sustained institutional demand.
Refus global · Automatistes — student of Borduas, contemporary of Marcelle Ferron and Françoise Sullivan, both already in the portfolio. The Refus global lineage is the Canadian spine of the 20th century.