Martin Barré was born on September 22, 1924, in Nantes, France.
He started his studies in Architecture and then in Painting at the École des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, before moving to Paris, in 1948.
The solo and group exhibitions in which he took part from 1955 mark the beginning of his Parisian career. An extensive reflection on the work of Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich is at the origin of the singularity of the abstract work developed by Martin Barré during his 40-year career. His main preoccupations in painting are related with notions of space, with a reflection on the support itself and the gesture of the painter, as well as the figure-ground relationship.
Martin Barré is one of the most singular artists of post-war abstraction and his work is now internationally recognized, as shown by the most recent exhibitions dedicated to his œuvre. Among the many institutional exhibitions in which Martin Barré has participated, we highlight the most recent including: 2015-2017 - Dead Line - Mosset, Barré, Tinguely, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Genève (MAH), Switzerland, in collaboration with the Gandur Foundation for Art; 2016 - The Westreich / Wagner Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; 2019 - Martin Barré, MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland; 2019/2010 - Artistic Licence: Six Takes on the Guggenheim Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris is preparing a major exhibition of Martin Barré in 2020.