Michel Henry [By the Window of Coquelicot] Oil painting No. 40F [with frame]

2006 work

This is a painting commissioned by the artist Michel Henry for our company (Galerie Adeka). 

Michel Henry is a painter who mainly paints flowers, and together with Buffet and Brasilier, he is one of the leading painters in the 20th century French art world. His paintings give off a sense of happiness, so he is called the painter of happiness in France, and the king of poppies in America, because he paints many poppies. His transparent colors are likened to jewels. Red is said to be the color of ruby, blue is the color of sawaire, green is the color of emerald, and deep brown is the color of topaz. Michel Henry's paintings are collected by the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Swedish royal family, the Principality of Monaco, the Saudi Arabian royal family, and others. Galerie Adeka has been the sole distributor of Michel Henry in Japan since 1995, planning Michel Henry exhibitions in famous department stores and galleries throughout Japan, producing original prints signed by the artist himself, selling painting prints, and managing copyrights.

Work Description

The blue sky outside the window makes me feel like it's summer. There are bamboo blinds drawn on the top of the window, and I can see that they are letting in cool air from outside. I remember that 30 to 40 years ago, France had air conditioning. There is central heating. Hot water is heated in a boiler and circulated around the building to warm the entire building, including the interior. In Paris and even in southern France, the temperature does not rise above 30 degrees even in summer, and the humidity is low, so you can cool off by going into the shade of a tree. A decade or so ago, France was hit by a heatwave, and thousands of people (mostly elderly people) collapsed due to the lack of air conditioning. Even now, not all hotels have air conditioning. The flowers look like poppies painted by Michel Henry, but the leaves are long and thin, similar to those of rhododendrons. They are not poppy leaves that remind me of mugwort. When Michel Henry paints poppies, he does not often paint leaves. Perhaps the leaves of a different flower were painted to create a fresh early-summer atmosphere? The plums and bouquet on either side form a triangle, creating a stable composition. The base below the window is unified with a clover pattern in several inconspicuous colors. The colors are violet and wine, which are complementary to the orange of the bouquet, giving the bouquet a radiance. The blue sky outside the window is blocked by a transparent milky white and pale pink and pale blue clouds or mist. This gives the exterior space a sense of perspective and depth.

Gallery Adeka Yasuhiro Takeda