亨利．米修認為趙無極的畫其實不是「風景」而是「自然」

早期作品有幽渺曠遠與神祕的感覺，一種中國節慶氣氛，他的評畫相當契合藝術家的心境。而傑克梅第曾經告訴趙無極，特別喜歡他「畫中有一種潦草顫動的東西」，對於後來趙無極轉向抽象還頗有微辭。

趙無極 〈在灰色風景中的戀人〉 1951 油彩畫布
羅芙奧台北 2021 秋季拍賣會 / 編號 224
ZAO Wou-ki 〈Couple au Paysage Gris〉 1951 Oil on canvas
Ravenel Autumn Auction 2021 Taipei / Lot 224

1948年趙無極離開中國前往法國學習藝術，浸淫在歐洲濃郁的文化氛圍中，極短的時間適應了當地的生活，出色的畫藝使得他很快受到肯定。1951年時他暫緩繪畫創作，開始到歐洲各國旅行充實自我。就在他前往瑞士參加自己的銅版畫發表時，有機會在伯恩參觀了保羅．克利的畫展。當他看到小小的畫面營造出遼誾無比的空間，色彩間交雜著線條符號，牽引出抽象的詩意與想像，內心受到極大的感動。克利帶有東方精神的高妙繪畫，提示出一條通往抽象藝術的途徑。這段探索時期對於趙無極後來成為國際知名抒情抽象畫家，可謂至關重要。

之後趙無極又到義大利、西班牙等地旅行，南歐的城市建築吸引了他的目光，地中海的明亮色彩與想像力都是創作的源泉。這些空間佈局被他運用在1950年代初期的作品之中。以此幅《在灰色風景中的戀人》為例，顫動纖細的線條繞過前景，延伸到兩側，切割產生空間感。象形文字般的符號線條組構出山村綠樹，呈現自然質樸的特色，隱約見到人物、動物嬉戲其間，歐洲繪畫專有的亮黃色調，結合清新的綠色，使整福繪畫洋溢愉悅感，添入粉白色暈染則營造出宛如夢境般的氤氳空間。

1950年代早期油畫《在灰色風景中的戀人》仍屬於具象畫，畫中描寫的對象以簡化符號取代，但觀眾仍可辨識。自然世界裡的幽玄語彙，讓整幅畫帶有神祕而迷人的氣氛。中國繪畫多點透視空間的傳统、文人畫意境，巧妙地融合於此。趙無極來自歷史悠久的東方，接觸了西方，為他的繪畫中帶進西方的光線與色彩，而西方又導引他重新發現中國，尤其是中國的空間。兩種傳統不相互約束，反而交互作用成趙無極抒情又遼闊的繪畫世界，走向抽象藝術的探索。

趙無極 〈 無題（黃金城市） 〉 1951 油彩畫布
蘇富比香港 / 2021春季拍賣會 / 編號1033 / 成交價 港幣 7,445.3 萬
ZAO Wou-Ki 〈 Untitled (Golden City) 〉 1951 Oil on canvas
Sotheby’s Spring Auction 2021 HK / Lot 1033 / US$9,602,947 / SOLD

Henri Michaux, whose critiques of individual works are always very insightful and in tune with the artist’s mood, felt that Zao’s paintings were not depicting “landscapes” as much as “nature,” and that his early work was bathed in the lively atmosphere of Chinese festivals, while at the same time emanating a powerful sense of vastitude and mysticism. Giacometti once told Zao that he was especially fond of the “spontaneous nonchalance rippling in tremors” (il y avait un côté pattes de mouche tremblotantes) through his paintings-a remark already hinting at the artist’s gradual switch to out-and-out abstraction, which was to follow later in his career.

In 1948, Zao Wou-ki left China for France, where he studied art and immersed himself in the pulsating bohemian and cultural life of the old continent. He was quickly at home in Paris, and his superior painting skills and creative genius soon found wide recognition in art circles. In 1951, Zao temporarily put his painting efforts on a backburner and began to travel through Europe to broaden his horizons and seek new inspirations. Making his way to Switzerland for a presentation of his copperplate etchings, he had the opportunity to visit a Paul Klee exhibition in Bern. Zao was deeply impressed by Klee’s ability to evoke immeasurably vast spaces in even the smallest-sized of paintings, and to delicately blend colors with lines and symbols to conjure up abstract poeticism and playgrounds of imagination. There is something Oriental about Klee’s work, an ingenious mastery that directly communicated itself to Zao, pointing a way toward the art of the abstract. It is no exaggeration to say that those years of freewheeling exploration were crucial for the Chinese artist’s development as an internationally renowned master of lyrical-abstractionist painting.

Zao also traveled to other places, such as Italy and Spain, where Southern European architectural styles attracted his interest, and the bright, intense colors and romantic Mediterranean spirit became lasting sources of inspiration for his work. This influence can be strongly felt in the artist’s compositions from the early 1950s, including this lot, titled “Paysage” (“Landscape”), in which vacillating fine lines dominate the foreground and expand to both sides of the canvas to create a sense of depth and space. Dark lines reminiscent of Chinese pictographs are assembled into a mountain village and green trees, with human figures and frolicking animals faintly discernible in between. Bright yellow tones in the European tradition are fused with fresh shades of green to generate a joyful atmosphere that is further accentuated by dabs of opaque white. The overall effect is that of a dreamlike world, a delightfully different plane of reality.

“Paysage” has to be counted as a work of representational art: while the depicted subjects have already been “replaced” by symbolic pictograms, they yet remain immediately identifiable by the observer. However, the profound mystique of the natural world, perfectly mirrored in the artist’s shorthand imagery, imbues the entire composition with an intriguing mood, both confusing and spellbinding. Moreover, “Paysage” is a deftly crafted amalgam of European palette and the traditional Chinese multi-perspective approach, a clever mixture of literati-painting metaphors and Western techniques. Zao, while rooted in the Oriental tradition, encountered European styles and techniques with an open mind, absorbing new ways of lighting and coloring to come away with a fresh outlook on Chinese visual art, in particular its treatment of space and perspective. Zao has a true talent for combining seemingly incongruent elements and approaches, and allowing them to harmoniously complement each other. In the process, he has created masterpieces both lyrical and majestic, always forging ahead in his search for perfect abstraction.