Françoise Gilot: Compositions, 2002-2005
October 18 to December 1, 2007

Each morning in my studio when I come face-to-face with the canvas, the most important thing before I start working is to gather my energies; to ignite my thoughts: to reach a level of intensity from which shapes and colors will be born.  I can stand still for up to an hour thus, yet it is not enough: I need a symbol, I need words: a title, a key to the mood I wish to create.  It is as if the splendor of these sounds carries the climate of the painting to come.

Even though in drawing I have gathered understanding and knowledge through observation of bodies, landscapes and objects, as a painter I almost never work from nature: I want to work like nature, intuiting its process of harmonious growth, maturation, and generation.

As an artist, each day I must re-enter the Garden of Eden, avoiding the Tree of Good and Evil and direct my guest toward the Tree of Life, where there is only ascent. Here there is no fall: it develops according to the Golden Mean, blooming in springtime, bearing fruits at the end of summer, carrying for generation after generation the genealogies of the birds, beasts, and humans that it shelters.

Enthusiasm fills my whole being in the knowledge that what helps me go beyond my own weakness is also valid for those people who relate to such universal symbols in the way I do.

The title is the key to the sharing of feeling and meaning: a language accessible to all without borders or limitations.

FRANÇOISE GILOT