Artwork Title: Le Grand Concert

Le Grand Concert, 1955

Nicolas De Staël

Le Concert was de Stael’s largest and most ambitious painting, measuring 6 meters (20 ft) by 3.5 meters (11.5 ft). It features a grand piano and a double bass on a floor littered with sheets of music, referencing the fact that these two instruments are traditionally not removed from the stage after a concert is over. De Stael was inspired by a concert he had attended the night before, racing home and working on the painting all the next day, until the bad light made it impossible to continue. He then burned all his sketches and jumped to his death. Shortly before he died, he wrote, “I have not the strength to complete my paintings.” (http://listverse.com/2015/07/18/10-final-paintings-by-artists-who-committed-suicide/)
Uploaded on Oct 18, 2013 by Annemie Vandeput

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