1941 Demobilized and admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier. Meets Colette Llaurens.

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1 PIERRE SOULAGES 1919 Born, 24th December, Rodez, France Begins to train as a drawing teacher in Paris Admitted to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, but quickly leaves. Sees exhibitions of Cézanne and Picasso before returning to Rodez Drafted Demobilized and admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier. Meets Colette Llaurens Marries Colette Llaurens. Conscripted for STO, forced labour, (ʻService de travail obligatoireʼ) in Germany but goes underground and works as a winegrower with false papers for the remainder of the Occupation. Neither draws nor paints but becomes friends with French poet, Joseph Delteil through whom he meets Sonia Delauney who tells him about abstract art Settles with Colette in Courbevoie. Unsuccessfully submits paintings to the Salon dʼautomne Rents his own wall space at the Salon des Surindépendants, where his first exhibited paintings attract much attention Moves to Montparnasse. Participates in Salon des réalités nouvelles and O.Domnickʼs traveling exhibition in Germany, Grosse Ausstellung französischer abstracter Malerei, for which one of his works is the poster. Visited by James Sweeney, late director of the Guggenheim Museum who proceeds to write often about Soulages as well as recommending and including him in important exhibitions First one-man show at Galerie Lydia Conti. First sale to a museum, Museé de Grenoble. First stage design commission for Roger Vaillant at the Théâtre des Mathurins, Paris Sells a painting to FNAC, which from 1952 is on permanent loan to the Musée National dʼart Moderne, Paris Creates his first etchings after a visit from Mme Lacourière and Atelier Lacourière First one-man show in USA at the Samuel Kootz Gallery Separate studio in the Latin Quarter (Rue Galande) 1958 Designs and builds house, with Colette, in Sète, the South of France, also with a studio First retrospective traveling exhibition shown around Germany Draws cartoons for large tapestries for the Maison de la Radio in Paris, the Hochschule St. Gallen, Switzerland and the Ministry of Finance in Paris Designs a glass mosaic window for the Suermond-Ludwig-Museum in Aachen, Germany. Retrospective at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

2 1967 New Paris apartment closer to the studio. Retrospective at the Musée National dʼart Moderne, Paris Designs a large ceramic decoration for a skyscraper in Pittsburgh. Retrospectives at Musée dʼart Contemporain, Montreal and Musée de Quebec, Quebec Lease of studio terminated Buys a studio close to the apartment in the Rue de Saint-Victor. Travelling retrospective around parts of Europe and South America First of three bronze reliefs, his only sculptural works, based on earlier etchings Soulage presents a new type of painting at the Musée National dʼart Moderne, Paris A work is suspended with cables in the foyer of the new concert hall in Aarhus, Denmark Retrospective at the Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan Begins work, almost exclusively, on the French stateʼs commission of 104 new windows for the Romanesque abbey church in Conques Retrospectives in Kassel, Valencia and Nantes Retrospective at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea Soulagesʼ work appears in three volumes of Pierre Encrevéʼs catalogue raisonné. Retrospective at China Fine Arts Palace, Peking and the Fine Arts Museum in Taipei Retrospective in Paris, Montréal and São Paulo Retrospective at the Kunstmuseum, Berne Retrospective at les Abbatoirs, Toulouse Retrospectives in St Petersburg and Moscow First living artist to be exhibited in Zaha Hadidʼs new extension to the museum Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen Awarded the Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art Inauguration of a permanent hanging of many of Soulageʼs works at the Musée Fabre, Montpellier Retrospective exhibition at Centre Pompidou in Paris. Seen by over 500,000 people, it was the 4 th most visited exhibition in the history of the Pompidou (after Dali, Matisse and Kandinsky). Lives and works in Paris and Sète, France

3 SELECTED SOLO SHOWS 1949 Galerie Lydia Conti, Paris 1954 Kootz Gallery, New York 1956 La Galerie de France, Paris Kootz Gallery, New York 1961 Folkwang Museum, Essen (retrospective) Gemeente Museum, The Hague (retrospective) Kunsthaus, Zurich (retrospective) Kootz Gallery, New York 1966 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, (retrospective) 1967 Musée National d'art Moderne, Paris, (retrospective) Gimpel und Hanover Galerie, Zurich Gimpel Fils Gallery, London Galerie de France, Paris 1968 Comité dʼétablissement du Crédit Lyonnais, Paris Musée du Québec, Québec Musée dʼart Contemporain, Montréal (retrospective) Knoedler Gallery, New York Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo Traveling retrospective exhibition: Musée dynamique, Dakar; Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon; Salas del Patrimonio Artístico y Cultural, Madrid; Musée Fabre, Montpellier; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico; Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas; Museo Maracaibo, Fundaçao Cultural, Brasilia; Museu da Universidade, São Paulo; Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro; Musée dʼart et dʼindustrie, Saint-Etienne 1979 MNAM-Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Galerie Birch, Copenhagen Fondation Veranneman, Kruishoutem 1982 Galerie Ostertag, Frankfurt Oberhessisches Museum, Glessen Galerie Ponce, Mexico Kunstbygning, Aarhus (retrospective) Kunstpavillion, Esbjerg (retrospective) Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (retrospective) 1984 Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo (retrospective) 1987 Musée Saint Pierre Art Contemporain, Lyon Hans-Thoma Gesellschaft, Reutlingen Galerie Rieder, Munich

4 1989 Traveling retrospective; Museum Fridericianum, Kassel; IVAM-Centro Julio González, Valencia; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne Galerie Fandos, Valencia 1991 Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna 1992 Maison des Arts Georges Pompidou, Cajarc Galerie de France, Paris 1993 Musée National d'art Contemporain, Seoul (retrospective) 1994 China Fine Arts Palace (Meschuguan), Peking (retrospective) Fine Arts Museum, Taipei (retrospective) Westfälisches Landesmuseum, Münster 1996 Traveling retrospective Noir-Lumière ; Musée d'art Moderne Ville de Paris; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal; Museu de Arte, São Paulo Galerie Applicat, Paris Centre dʼart Contemporain, Embrun 1999 Kunstmuseum, Berne (retrospective) Galerie Rieder, Munich Musée Fabre, Montpellier 2000 M.A.C. les Abattoirs, Toulouse, (retrospective) Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne 2001 Musée de lʼermitage, Saint-Pétersbourg Nouvelle Galerie Tretiakov, Moscow 2003 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris 2005 Robert Miller Gallery, New York Haim Chanin Fine Arts, New York Turnbull Museum, Howland, Ohio Musée Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund-Copenhagen 2006 Ordugaard Museum, Copenhagen Westfalisches Landesmuseum, Muster Sammlung Essl Kunst Der Gegenwart 2007 IVAM, Institut Valencia dʼart Modern, Valencia (Prix Julio González) 2009 Center du Pompidou, Paris, France Galerie Rider, Munich 2010 Galerie Boisserée, J. & W. Boisserée GmbH COLLECTIONS Australian National Gallery, Canberra

5 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna MASP Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade, São Paulo Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro Musée dʼart Contemporain, Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Montréal Museo Salvador Allende, Santiago Musikhus, Arhus Statens Museum fort Kunst, Copenhagen Sara Hilden Art Museum, Tampere Musée Picasso, Antibes Musée de Brou, Bourg en Bresse Musée de Beaux-Arts, Caen F.R.A.C Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand Musée dʼunterlinden, Colmar F.D.A.C du Val de Marne, Créteil Centre Régional des Télécomunications, Dijon Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dunkerque Musée dʼevreux, Evreux Musée, Grenoble F.R.A.C Provence-Côte dʼazur, Marseille F.R.A.C Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier Musée Fabre, Montpellier Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes Fonds National dʼart Contemporain, Paris Mobilier National, Paris Musée National d'art Moderne, Paris Musée dʼart Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris F.R.A.C Bretagne, Rennes Musée dʼart Moderne, Saint-Etienne Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul Les Abbatoirs, Toulouse Musée dʼart Moderne, Villeneuve dʼascq Nationalgalerie, Berlin Kunsthalle, Bielefeld Ludwig Museum im Deutscheherrenhaus, Coblence Museum Ludwig, Cologne Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf Museum Folkwang, Essen Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg Sprengel Museum, Hannover Staatliche Museen, Kassel Stadtische Kunsthalle peinture, Mannheim Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, Munich Staatsgalerie (Sammlung Domnick), Stuttgart Teheran Museum of Contemporary Art, Teheran The Israel Museum, Jerusalem Galleria Civica dʼarte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin Open-air Museum, Hakone Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Karuizawa Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki

6 Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, Toyama Musée National dʼhistoire et dʼart, Luxembourg Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City Sonja Henie-Niels Onstad Kunstsenter, Hovikodden Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon Fundaçao José Berardo, Sintra The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg Institutio Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne Kunsthaus, Zurich Tate Gallery, London Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Harbor Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington Brooklyn Art Museum, Brooklyn Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Arts Club, Chicago Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Principia College, Elsah Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven Chase Manhatten Bank, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Museum of Modern Art, New York The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, New York The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield Washington University Museum, Saint-Louis National Trust for Historic Preservation, Tarrytown National Gallery of Art, Washington The Phillips Collection, Washington Worcester Art Museum, Worcester

7 AWARDS Rembrandt Award, 1976 Great National Award for Painting, Paris in 1987 Praemium Imperiale for painting, Japan 1994 VII Julio Gonzales Award, 2006