Modern & Postwar Artists

Serge Poliakoff

1900 - 1969

Serge Poliakoff was a Russian-born French modernist painter belonging to the ‘New’ Ecole de Paris (Tachisme).

Raised by a religious mother, Poliakoff attended church almost daily as a child, and the strong colors and contemplative, mimetic power of religious icons would fascinate him for his entire life. Just after he became a French citizen, a room of the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale was dedicated to his work. The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, organized his first major retrospective, and his work was included in the Tokyo Biennial (received the International Award).