Michel Henry [Symphony of the Night] Folding screen 180x200cm

Artwork from 2013

This painting was created by the artist Michel Henry by commission for our company (Galerie Adeka). 

Michel Henry is a painter who mainly depicts flowers and, alongside Buffet and Brasilier, is a representative painter of the 20th-century French art scene. His paintings evoke a sense of happiness, which is why he is known as "the painter of happiness" in France. He paints many poppies, earning him the nickname "King of Poppies" in America. His transparent colors are often compared to jewels. Red is said to be the color of rubies, blue the color of sapphires, green the color of emeralds, and deep brown the color of topaz. Michel Henry's paintings are held in collections at the Paris Museum of Modern Art, the Royal Swedish Collection, the Principality of Monaco, and the Royal Saudi Arabian Collection, among others. Since 1995, Galerie Adeka has been the sole agent for Michel Henry in Japan, organizing Michel Henry exhibitions in famous department stores and galleries across Japan, producing original signed prints by Michel Henry himself, selling paintings and prints, and managing copyrights.

Artwork Description

The painting depicts a field of golden yellow poppies against a black background. Five panels are connected to form a screen. There is no strict composition; the upper part shows golden yellow poppies scattered in the black darkness. Of course, they are not scattered chaotically, but spread out like a fan, radiating outwards, creating a unified sense of a single bouquet and a beautiful harmony. The lower part shows multiple green lines, seemingly stems, crisscrossing. It looks like a magnificent round dance of flowers. Each petal seems to dance, confronting and harmonizing with other petals, balancing themselves while being conscious of each other. The stems are also depicted with an exquisite balance with other stems and lines. It's like a flash of light floating in the darkness. The delicate yet bold dance of flowers and lines possesses a graceful tranquility that harmonizes with a Japanese aesthetic. Movement and stillness, color and darkness, elegance and desolation are all wonderfully harmonized.

Yasuhiko Takeda, Galerie Adeka