Song of Spring

About Song of Spring

This expressive abstract painting is Paul Fournier’s vision of spring colors.

For more than six decades Canadian artist, Paul Fournier investigated the potential of color and expressive abstract form to create his own unique visual language. Fournier’s powerful presence in the Canadian art scene elevated him to the status of one of the greats. Always inspired by the beauty of the natural world, this joyful piece is rendered in brilliant colors reminiscent of the riot of color that first appears in spring. Purple, blue, pink, yellow, white, red and orange cascade down the canvas against a bright green background. Fournier’s signature use of extensive mark-making and drips adds both texture and movement to his work.

“As a painter, I’m doing the same thing with colour, shape and movement that a musician does.” Paul Fournier

“Fournier’s passionate dialogue with both nature and the stuff of painting links even his most diverse works. No matter how potent the allusion, Fournier, as a highly intuitive artist with a profound belief in the expressive power of his materials, always makes us aware of the sensuality of paint, the excitement of the act of painting.” Karen Wilkin, Art Critic

Paul Fournier was born during the Great Depression in Simcoe, Ontario. He first studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1959 and went on to study printmaking at McMaster University in Hamilton in 1967. Fournier also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from McMaster in 1996 where he’d also been the artist in residence. During a career that spans six decades, Fournier has had solo exhibitions in several Canadian cities and in the U.S. His work is held in private collections in North and South America, and Europe. Public collections include the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Sculpture Garden in Washington and the Tate Museum in London.