Interdit, XI
(Prohibition XI)

1966, tempera and watercolour on “pur chiffon” paper, 52 x 41 cm
Private coll.
N ° inv. 1090

Gaston Bertrand naturally managed to transcend the common places which initially attracted him. As Francine-Claire Legrand nicely wrote in the monograph that she devoted to the artist in 1972, “the subway appears in a boundless sky, as a place where happy shadows are strolling, as tiny colourful beaches, a combination of supple curves contrasting with the edges, a juxtaposition of closed and open shapes”.

All the initial sketches of the subway can give rise, using various techniques (drawing, watercolours, and oil painting), to a creative process through which all references to the original object gradually vanish. However, the original structure is easily recognisable in the various versions.
Bertrand used the expressive texture of handcrafted “chiffon” paper and combined the strong and yet subtle colours with a remarkable sensitiveness and mastery. These coloured shapes are often bounded by a thin edging for which the artist used complementary colours.