The Dina Vierny Foundation – Musée Maillol, which has been showcasing the works of Aristide Maillol and all the artists discovered by Dina Vierny for over forty years since March 1995, has taken the initiative to organize an exceptional retrospective of the works of Serge Poliakoff (1900-1969).

Dina Vierny met Serge Poliakoff when he was accompanying her on the guitar at a cabaret where she was singing with a Gypsy group. When Poliakoff told her that he was a painter, she took it as a joke, but she was deeply moved when she saw his paintings.

In 1951, she decided to hold his first major painting exhibition at her gallery, located at 36, rue Jacob in Paris. The exhibition was a great success and, although Poliakoff had not yet sold any paintings, it allowed him to exhibit in other galleries. Four years later, he had become a renowned painter.

Alongside his artistic career, Poliakoff led a stable and happy life with his wife, Marcelle, whom he married in 1935, and with whom he had a son, Alexis, who now carefully preserves his father’s legacy.

Serge Poliakoff passed away on October 12, 1969, while preparing a major exhibition for the Musée d’Art Moderne, which was eventually presented in 1970. Since then, no major official institution has displayed a significant collection of his work.

At a time when the role and contribution of the École de Paris in the 1950s, of which Poliakoff was a key figure, are being reassessed, it has become urgent to promote the rediscovery and reinterpretation of the work of this master of abstraction, whose paintings are featured in the world’s most prestigious museums.

This exhibition, held from November 22, 1995, to March 30, 1996, includes 40 oil paintings and 30 gouaches, carefully selected, as well as a reconstruction of Poliakoff’s studio, staged by his son Alexis. The painter’s great creative period (1947-1969) is illustrated through masterpieces from each of his artistic phases.