Serge Poliakoff Russian, 1900-1969

Overview
Serge Poliakoff, 1953
Serge Poliakoff, 1953
"Space makes form, not the other way round."
Serge Poliakoff (1900–1969) was a Russian-born French painter and a leading figure of postwar abstract art. Associated with the École de Paris and Lyrical Abstraction, he developed a distinctive style of interlocking, richly colored shapes that created rhythmic, non-figurative compositions. His work bridged geometry and lyricism, earning him recognition as one of the most important abstract painters of the 1950s and 1960s.
Works
  • Serge Poliakoff, Composition jaune, verte, bleue et rouge, 1956
    Composition jaune, verte, bleue et rouge, 1956
Biography
Serge Poliakoff, Composition, 1950, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Copyright © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Serge Poliakoff, Composition, 1950, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Copyright © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Poliakoff transformed color and shape into pure rhythm, creating abstract compositions that pulse with balance and intensity.

Serge Poliakoff was born in 1900 in Moscow. In 1917, following the Russian Revolution, he fled his homeland, eventually settling in Paris in 1923. Initially working as a musician to support himself, he studied painting at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and later in London at the Slade School of Fine Art.

By the late 1930s, Poliakoff embraced abstraction, influenced by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Robert Delaunay, and Sonia Delaunay. In Paris, he became closely associated with the École de Paris, joining circles of artists including Jean-Michel Coulon, Nicolas de Staël, and Hans Hartung.

Poliakoff’s mature style emerged in the 1940s and 1950s: large, interlocking, irregular color fields that overlap and balance in subtle, rhythmic harmonies. His palette ranged from deep, earthy tones to bright, luminous contrasts, creating works that were simultaneously monumental and meditative. Critics praised his ability to balance geometry with emotional resonance, making his work central to postwar abstract painting in Europe.

From the mid-1950s onward, Poliakoff achieved international recognition. He participated in the Venice Biennale (1962) and had major exhibitions across Europe. In 1962, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris dedicated a retrospective to his work—cementing his place as a master of Lyrical Abstraction. His paintings are now held in major collections worldwide, including the Tate, Centre Pompidou, and Guggenheim.

Poliakoff continued working until his death in Paris in 1969, leaving behind a body of work that bridges Russian, French, and international modernism.