“Poliakoff’s paintings are revealed from the interior rather than the exterior. This is true, not only for the structure and organization of his pictures, but also for the dimensions of his art. It is abstract and remote from all nature because it is Nature itself. It has not even the slightest connection with the figurative world. In parallel with the progressive refinement of the components, the understatement of its forms, its enhanced simplicity and muted shading – which almost leads to the secret realm of monochrome – give it and increasing sense of spirituality, gravity and sanctity. These paintings owe nothing to their exterior; they have no particular message. Rather, they invite one to be absorbed by them; they encourage meditation and are open to it.”
Wieland Schmied, preface of the catalogue of the Serge Poliakoff exhibition at the Kestner Gesellschaft, 1963

Left: Robert Delaunay, Homage to Blériot, 1914, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel

Right: Vasily Kandinsky, Church at Murnau (Kirche in Murnau), 1909, The Museum of Modern Art, New York © 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris