Georges Mathieu (27 January 1921 – 10 June 2012) was a French abstract painter, art theorist, and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

This revelation originates from the readings of Edward Crankshaw and his interpretation of the work of Joseph Conrad as an abstract literature.

In 1947, he settled in Paris, employed the American Express, and rented a chambre de bonne near the Luxembourg Palace.

This position was an opportunity for Mathieu to reach a prestigious clientele, and form his first network of potential customers.

With a print run of 15000 copies, this yearly journal is distributed for free until 1963 : it gave Mathieu the opportunity to interview celebrities of the time, from the artistic (John Cage, Pierre Boulez, Mark Tobey, Henry Miller) and scientific scene (Albert Einstein, Norbert Wiener, Oskar Morgenstern).

He founded the first artistic group L’Imaginaire with Wols, Jean-Michel Atlan, Hartung, Bryen, Riopelle and exposes with fourteen painters at the Galerie du Luxembourg on 16 December 1947.

The exhibition was called Towards Lyrical Abstraction, but the title was later changed because of the presence of works of Pablo Picasso and Jean Arp.

The group is later expanded, with Michel Tapié, Picabia and François Stahly to form H.W.P.S.M.T.B., exposing at the Galerie Allendy.

He promoted an art free from the constraints of figurative paintings and defining the concept of Lyrical Abstraction.

He executed for this event Paris, Capitale des Arts, a giant canvas featuring primary colors on a blue background.

Today, Galerie Charpentier's walls house the headquarters of Sotheby's France, rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.

[4] Mathieu advocated for the embellishment of cities, the improvement of the design of everyday objects and the debasement of culture organised by mass medias.

In particular, he postulates four conditions that characterizes the movement: Mathieu positions its work, and more generally lyrical abstraction, as the latest of all cyclical transitions to happen in history of art.

In 1970 Mathieu focused on the equilibrium between balance and vividness, and showed central shapes on a uniform blocks of color.

Other titles were inspired by mathematics (Théorème d'Alexandrov), physics (Le principe de Pauli) or philosophy (Grand algorithme blanc).

Throughout his career, Mathieu fought for the introduction of art in the modern society and applied his style to a variety of fields.

In 1966, industrial owner Guy Biraud commissioned him to draw up the plans of the electrical transformer factory of Fontenay-le-Comte.

Another stamp commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Battle of France led by General Charles de Gaulle was created in 1980.

In 1966 the airlines company Air France ordered Mathieu a series of posters for its future advertising campaign.

The series featured paintings evocative of some major destinations (New York, Brazil, Japan, Germany...), all in the style of lyrical abstraction, pointed out for the graphical coherence between the countries and their representation.

The French television awards Les 7 d'or, broadcast from 1985 to 2001, offered a statue designed by Mathieu to the winners.

The Gutai group of Japanese artists also created a live work inspired from Mathieu's in a similar spirit to his art during the 1950s.

In their 1956 manifesto, its members acknowledged their interest in the techniques of two specific painters: “Concerning contemporary art, we respect Pollock and Mathieu because their work seems to embody cries uttered out of matter, pigment and enamel.

More precisely, they put themselves at the service of matter in a powerfully symbiotic way.” Some of his works anticipates the revival of the modern-style Graffiti.