Painting by René Roche, 1979

Painting by René Roche; 1979; Contemporary painting; post-war artwork; Graphic artwork. Exhibited in the exhibition 'Espace et abstraction' in Palais Saint-Jean in Lyon, France in 1979. René Roche was born in Vienne, France, in 1932. He followed an independent path as a self-taught artist and sculptor. In 1957 he built his first studio, and art dominated his life increasingly, despite having to work in the local industry. He started exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes de Vienne in 1957, winning first prize at the 15th Salon in 1963, also having his first solo exhibition that year. Throughout his career he exhibited regularly, both group and solo exhibitions, and accepted many commissions for murals and sculptures, having a strong conviction that works of art were not just for museums and art galleries but should be seen in public spaces. By 1970 he had abandoned figurative painting for geometric abstraction, becoming a full-time artist in 1973. René Roche remained honest to his vision throughout his career, his colorful geometric sculptures allowing him to realize in real space the relationship between colors that he had established in his paintings. Shape and color were his greatest inspiration, saying “one of my dreams is to throw color at the sky and make it stay there.”