Pierre Soulages

Do you own any Pierre Soulages’s artwork? Are you curious to know what they are worth? Our Experts can provide a free appraisal to give you an estimate of the market price, then help you to ensure the best possible price should you decide to sell.

Value, estimation and price of the artist Pierre Soulages

Price of a painting: 34,000 – 4 500,000 €.

Price of a drawing: 19,000 – 165,000 €.

Estimation of a print: 240 – 9,000 €.

If you would like to have a work by Pierre Soulage appraised, our experts will take care of everything.

Pierre Soulages’ inspirations

Pierre Soulages is a French painter and engraver, born 24 December 1919, in Aveyron. Since the 1940s, he has been closely associated with abstract art.

At the age of 18, the young painter decided to move to Paris to prepare for the drawing professorship and the entrance examination to the School of Fine Arts. He was admitted in 1938, but chose to return to Rodez, discouraged by the conformity of the teaching there. During this brief stay in Paris, he visited the Louvre Museum and discovered exhibitions of Cézanne and Picasso. These were indeed revelations for him, and encouraged him to devote himself solely to painting.

He is mainly known for his use of the colour black and its reflections, which he calls “outrenoir“. He is one of the main representatives of informal painting with nearly 1,500 paintings to his credit, and most of their titles are composed of the word “painting” followed by the format.

Inspiration and discovery

Since childhood, Pierre Soulages has been fascinated by the materials worn down by time such as old stones, and the craftsmanship of his native Rouergue and its landscapes. His passion for Romanesque art was revealed at the age of 12 when he visited the Abbey of Sainte-Foy de Conques and the somewhat confused desire to become an artist was born. He also experienced emotional shock through cave paintings. He assisted a local archaeologist in his research after discovering the paintings in the caves of Pech-Merle in the Lot, Font-de-Gaume in the Dordogne, Altamira in Cantabria Spain, and the caves of Lascaux in the Dordogne. He even discovered arrowheads and shards of prehistoric pottery which are now in the Fenaille museum in Rodez.

In 1979, he exhibited his first monopigmented paintings at the Pompidou Centre, based on the reflection of light on the surface states of black, later called “outrenoir”. The previous January, the painter was working on a painting by adding and removing black for hours.

He finally left the studio when he returned two hours later: “The black had invaded everything, so much so that it was as if it no longer existed”.

This experience marked a turning point in his work.

The main works of Pierre Soulages

Untitled Intaglio (1956 – Tachism period)

Composition rouille et noire XXV (1974 – Tachism period)

B-Walnut Stain (1998 – Minimalism period)

Gouache 2014 B-7 (2004 – Minimalism period)

Recognising Pierre Soulages’s signature

Like many artists, Pierre Soulages did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraising and selling a Soulages’s artwork

If you own a Pierre Soulages’s artwork, use our online form for a free appraisal.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent opinion of the market price. Should you wish to sell your painting or any other print, our specialists will also advise you on the various options available for selling at the best price.