BIOGRAPHY
Henri Michaux was a Belgian poet naturalized French born in Namur en 1899 and who died in Paris in 1984.
His literary career began in 1922 with the writing of his first work, Cas de folie circulaire, and the start of his collaboration with the avant-garde magazine Le Disque vert. He also emigrated to Paris during this period and, from then on, never ceased to disavow anything that tied him to Belgium.
Alongside his writing, beginning in 1925, he developed an interest in painting and the visual arts in general. Exhibiting for the first time in 1937, he continued to work tirelessly, to the point where his visual output eventually began to take precedence over his written work. Drawing seemed to him to be more liberating, free from the obstacle of words laden with meaning that distorts the significance they should have.
An unclassifiable figure, Henri Michaux pursued both poetic writing and painting in parallel. Rejecting “easy plenitude,” he cultivated experimentation and blazed new trails.
A great traveler, his discovery of China and Chinese culture marked a turning point in his life, as did his meeting in 1949 with the painter Zao Wou-Ki and, in the 1950s, with the poet and calligrapher François Cheng.
Chinese calligraphy, in which writing and drawing are inseparable, captivated him and inspired a new language in which the sign reigns supreme. He adopted Chinese ink and fluid techniques that allow for spontaneity and speed of execution.
Through masterful control of gesture and rhythm, forms and symbols come to life on the page with a timeless power and freedom of expression that remains as captivating as ever, resonating with the viewer.
“Who has not at some point wanted to capture more, to capture better, to capture differently—both people and things—not with words, nor with phonemes, nor with onomatopoeia, but with graphic signs?” - Henri Michaux
EXHIBITIONS
2026
- Zao Wou-Ki, Henri Michaux. China - Occident, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
- The gallery celebrates its 40th anniversary. Carte blanche to Pierre Wat, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
- BRAFA 2026, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Bruxelles, Belgium
2024
- HENRI MICHAUX - Écritures, Encres et lithographies - Collections du musée, Musée de l'Hospice Saint-Roch, Issoudun, Indre, France
2021
- Henri Michaux. Retour de Chine, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2020
- Henri Michau. Mu Xin, Mu Xin Art Museum, Wuzhen, China
- Henri Michaux. Mu Xin, Power Station Museum, Shanghai, China
2018
- Henri Michaux. De l'autre côté, Guggenheim, Bilbao, Portugal
- Henri Michaux, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2017
- Henri Michaux. Face à face, Wallonie-Bruxelles Center, Paris, France
2015
- Henri Michaux, Zao Wou-Ki. Dans l'empire des signes, fondation Martin Bodmer, Geneva, Switzerland
2014
- Henri Michaux. Aventures de signes, batailles, foules, mouvements, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
2013
- Sous influences. Arts platiques et psychotropes, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
2012
- Shanghai !, Bernard Magrez Cultural Institute, Bordeaux, France
- La collection Michaël Werner, Musée d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France
2010
- Extra-City, Kunsthal Antwerpen et MuKHA, Musée d'Art Contemporain d'Anvers, Anvers, Belgium
- High Society, Wellcome Collection, London, United Kingdom
2008
- Traces du sacré, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
- Be-Bomb, Museo de Arte Contemporanei de Barcelona (MACBA), Barcelona, Spain
2007
- Michaux. Emerging Figures, Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo (MoMAT), Tokyo, Japan
2006
- L'envolée lyrique, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, France
2004
- Peintures, aquarelles et lithographies, Galerie Lelong, Paris, France
2001
- Galerie Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom
- Henri Michaux. Frottages, Musée des Abattoirs, Toulouse, France
- Musée d'art et d'histoire de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
2000
- Visage painting and the human face in 20th century art, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
- National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
- Camden Art Centre, London, United Kingdom
- Vision Machine, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France
1999
- Histoires d'encre, Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, Paris, France
- Henri Michaux and Terry Winters, Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom
- Welten in dialog, Ludwig Museum, Köln, Germany
1997
- La côte d'azur et la modernité. 1918-1958, Musée d'Art moderne et d'art contemporain, Nice, France
1995
- Musée d'art moderne, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Passions privées, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
1993
- Paris Post War. Art and existentialism, Tate gallery, London, United Kingdom
1989
- L'écriture griffée, Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
1988
- Galerie Lelong, Paris, France
1986
- Henri Michaux. Alberto Giacometti, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Masachusset, United States
1983
- Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
1978
- Musée National d'Art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Guggenheim Museum in New York, United States; Contemporary Art Museum of Montreal, Canada
1976
- Henri Michaux, peintures, rétrospective, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
1970
- The International, Carnegie Museum of Art of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
1966
- European Drawings, Guggenheim, New York, United States
1965
- Musée national d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, France
1962
- Ecole de paris, Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1961
- Encres, aquarelles, Galerie Cordier-Warren, New York, United States
1960
- XXXe Venice Biennale, Pavillon français, Prix Einaudi, Venice, Italy
1959
- Galerie Daniel Cordier, Francfort, Germany
- Vitalita nell'arte, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
1957
- The Mescalin Drawings of Henri Michaux, Gallery One, London, United Kingdom
- Galerie Aujourd'hui, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
- Galerie Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
1956
- Recent paintings, Ruth Moskin Gallery, New York, United States
- Galleria d'Arte Selecta, Rome, Italy
1952
- Peintures non abstraites, Studio Paul Facchetti, Paris, France
1948
- Galerie Drouin, Paris, France
1946
- Peintures et dessins, Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris, France
1938
- Peintures nouvelles d'Henri Michaux, Galerie Pierre Loeb, Paris, France
1937
- Galerie Paul Magné, Paris, France
PUBLICATIONS
Exhibition catalog
Henri Michaux. Return from China
Exhibition catalog - Selection of 30 works
Edition Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, 2021
Henri Michaux "Le dessin est exorcisme"
Texte de Pierre Wat
Edition Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, 2018
52 pages, illustrations couleurs
Dimensions: 27 x 22 cm
ISBN:978-2-490315-00-0
Prix de vente: 30 €
(cliquer pour sur l'image visualiser)
Henri Michaux, Histoires d’encre
Texte de Jean-Louis Shefer
Ed. Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès et Pagine d’Arte, Milan, 1999
53 pages reliées, 31 illustrations en noir et blanc
Dimensions : 25 x 19cm
N° ISBN 2-9514513-X
Prix de vente: 25 € (version française épuisée, disponible en version italienne)