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Jean Helion was an Abstract painter born in Couterne, France. Helion originally studied chemistry, but moved to Paris in 1920 to study architecture. While in Paris, Helion also took up painting, and his art became noticed by collectors. For the most part, Helion was entirely self-taught. By 1925, he was able to focus completely on painting, and held his first exhibition three years later at the Salon des Independants.

Helion embraced Abstract art from the beginning, with his earliest work being non-figurative. In 1930, Helion and other artists formed the Art Concret artist’s association, which eventually turned into the Abstraction-Creation association. Helion would move away from Abstract art later on and form an Expressionistic style all his own. After this point, people and places would dominate his compositions, and he painted very few landscapes or still life. His style would essentially be defined by color and emotion, and was at times cartoon-like and other times, mature and elegant.

During this time, Helion was traveling extensively all over Europe and to the Soviet Union and the United States. In 1936, Helion settled in the United States, and would live dually in New York and Virginia. Even though he had moved to the United States, he was called to fight for France in World War II. He was taken prisoner in 1940 and escaped in 1942, to return to the states a year later and write a book about his accounts.

Throughout the rest of his life, Helion continued to travel all over the world and work and show his art. Although his work is considered to be Abstract, a number of his paintings are more Expressionist in nature, and show influences of Cubism and Fauvism. Some of his final paintings even show a Surrealist influence.

Though not as well know as his fellow artists, Helion was a celebrated experimental artist who created art like no one else. He saw art as an adventure, and was quoted in saying that “Art is, from any point of view, the greatest of risks.”

Today, Helion’s paintings are housed in museums worldwide including the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Guggenheim in New York, and perhaps even in your own home. Still wondering about an Abstract or Expressionist painting hanging on your wall? It may be by Jean Helion—contact us to find out.