Hibou-Circus III

The thick, jagged surface of this 1973 painting looks like it was carved as much as painted. Jean-Paul Riopelle, a Quebec artist who rose to fame in the mid-twentieth century, made his name by loading paint onto canvas with a palette knife and building it up into rough ridges and cracked ridged layers. Here, dark grays and blacks dominate the scene, broken up by sharp flashes of green, red, and white that seem to fight their way to the surface. The result feels tense and alive, like something pushing to break free.

The word "Hibou" in the title means owl, a creature Riopelle came back to over and over across his career. A lover of the outdoors, he let his time in nature seep into his work, though he never spelled anything out. Instead of showing you an owl, he leaned on texture and color to suggest one. Some viewers spot a hidden animal staring back from the chaos, while others just take in the sheer physical punch of the paint. Both ways of looking are fair game with a canvas this restless.