Niele Toroni

Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2006

This monumental canvas stands as a quintessential example of Niele Toroni’s “travail-peinture,” the disciplined method he inaugurated in 1966–67. The work consists solely of monochrome imprints from a flat No. 50 brush, placed at unwavering intervals of 30 cm - a rule he applied consistently across all supports. In such works, painting ceases to be about representation or gesture; instead, it becomes a system - a repeated act whose structure and presence are the work itself.

Created in 2004, this work carries the weight of decades of rigorous exploration. The regular, methodical spacing of the marks establishes a steady rhythm across the surface - yet on close inspection, each imprint remains subtly distinct. The painting thus balances between uniformity and variation, stability and liveliness, offering a field of quiet intensity that rewards attentive viewing. In its serene austerity, the work reaffirms painting - not as expression, but as action and presence.

From 1967 onward, Toroni remained faithful to his method: the repeated imprint of a No. 50 brush at fixed 30 cm intervals, the “travail-peinture.” He has executed this protocol on myriad surfaces - canvas, paper, oil cloth, walls - and in a variety of colours, asserting that no two imprints are ever quite the same.

Niele Toroni was born in 1937 in Muralto, Ticino, Switzerland. After initial training as a teacher, he moved to Paris in 1959 to pursue painting. In 1967 he co-founded the BMPT group alongside Daniel Buren, Olivier Mosset and Michel Parmentier, a brief but influential collective that challenged prevailing assumptions about authorship, gesture and representation in painting.

Toroni is represented by Marian Goodman Gallery (Paris, New York, London), and his work has been showcased in major venues worldwide, including the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Swiss Institute (New York) and Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam).