Martial Raysse

Martial Raysse — Nouveau Réalisme
Birth: Golfe-Juan, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Nationality: French

Movement: French-style Pop Art

Training: Self-taught, initially inspired by painting and poetry
Artistic Journey

Martial Raysse began by exhibiting assemblages of found objects and colorful plastics in the 1950s. In 1960, he became a co-founder of Nouveau Réalisme alongside Arman, César, Klein, and Tinguely. He soon moved toward a style inspired by advertising and pop art, using neon lights, photography, and fluorescent colors. After spending some time in the United States, he adopted figurative painting nourished by classical references (Ingres, Titian), while maintaining an ironic critique of consumer society and imagery. His work oscillates between experimentation and a return to more traditional painting.
Major Works

Made in Japan – The Grand Odalisque (1964) – A pop and fluorescent reinterpretation of Ingres’ painting, an icon of Nouveau Réalisme.
High Voltage Painting (1965) – A work combining photography and painting, playing with eroticism and consumerism.
Last Year in Capri (1962) – An assemblage of objects and colorful plastics, critiquing leisure culture.
America America (1964) – A colorful series inspired by consumer society and the American dream.
Here Beach, As Here Below (2012) – Monumental fresco (7x17 m) exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, a critical and mythological vision of our era.
Style and Influences
Reinterpretation of classical art through pop and advertising means.
Use of fluorescent colors, neon lights, plastics, and industrial objects.
Social critique intertwined with pictorial poetry.
Recognition and Legacy
Winner of the Rubens Prize in 1966.
Major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou (2014).
His works are part of the collections of the Centre Pompidou, MoMA, and Tate.
Quote

“Art is a hygiene.”