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Yves Gaucher:
Montreal Abstraction Finds an Edge


Curated by Roald Nasgaard

Minimalist abstract painting by Yves Gaucher with a solid red background. Short, thin horizontal lines, painted in blue and green, are arranged into three columns near the middle of the piece and appear in stacked pairs except for two green lines nearest to the centre. Thicker green lines appear on the top and bottom edges of the piece.

Yves Gaucher (1934–2000) was one of Canada’s foremost abstract painters of the second half of the twentieth century. He first made his mark as an innovative printmaker; after turning to painting in 1964 and for the rest of his life, he pursued his abstract style with relentless self-criticism and uncommon purity. Gaucher produced highly ordered, geometrical, and tensely planar images that pushed the boundaries of Canadian painting to explore and question our experience of colour and time. For more on Yves Gaucher read Roald Nasgaard’s Yves Gaucher: Life & Work.



About the Curator: Roald Nasgaard

Roald Nasgaard was the co-curator of the exhibition Mystical Landscapes: Masterpieces from Monet, Van Gogh and More (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Musée d’Orsay, Paris) and the curator of Higher States: Lawren Harris and His American Contemporaries (McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Americas Society, New York).



Banner Image: Yves Gaucher, Dusk, Calm, Signals (detail), 1966, acrylic on canvas, 101.5 x 203 cm, Galerie Simon Blais, Montreal.

Gallery

Print by Yves Gaucher depicting rough, flat stones. Smaller stones in light grey are layered on top of two larger, darker stones.

Asagao, 1961

Minimal print by Yves Gaucher of small boxes and lines, some filled in with black or grey ink and some left empty, debossed into a large sheet of otherwise empty white paper.

In Homage to Webern No. 2 (En hommage à Webern n° 2), 1963

Minimal, abstract painting by Yves Gaucher made on a square canvas and tilted 45 degrees to resemble a diamond. Its solid beige background is decorated with crisp, symmetrical lines arranged in Xs and painted in green and pink with small baby blue diamonds on either side of the central X. A thin green border runs along the edges of the canvas.

Le cercle de grande réserve, 1965

Minimalist abstract painting by Yves Gaucher with a solid red background. Short, thin horizontal lines, painted in blue and green, are arranged into three columns near the middle of the piece and appear in stacked pairs except for two green lines nearest to the centre. Thicker green lines appear on the top and bottom edges of the piece.

Dusk, Calm, Signals, 1966

Minimal, abstract painting by Yves Gaucher with a solid deep blue background. Short, thin horizontal lines, painted in two shades of dark green, are arranged near the top and side edges of the piece. A thicker green line appears running along the bottom edge.

Blue Raga, 1967

Minimal, abstract painting by Yves Gaucher with a solid grey background. Six short, thin horizontal lines, painted in two shades of light green, are sparsely arranged near the top and bottom of the piece.

Alap, 1967

Minimalist painting by Yves Gaucher consisting of a wide rectangular canvas divided into four equal horizontal stripes in solid shades of (from top to bottom) dark blue, dark grey, lighter blue, and lighter grey.

Two Blues, Two Greys, 1976

Minimalist diptych paintings by Yves Gaucher with each canvas divided diagonally into two areas, one solid black and one solid dark grey.

Jericho 1: An Allusion to Barnett Newman (Une allusion à Barnett Newman), 1978

Minimalist painting by Yves Gaucher of a long and wide canvas divided into six vertical stripes of solid colours (two low contrast dark greys, a blue, mauve, and two greens). The colours are divided mostly by perpendicular edges but the ones at the far ends are instead divided by subtlety articulated diagonals.

T.D.S., 1988

Minimalist painting by Yves Gaucher of a long and wide canvas divided into four solid colours (white, two off-whites, and a larger area of light blue in the centre). The colours are divided mostly by perpendicular edges but some are instead divided by subtlety articulated diagonals.

B2 + w Ps, 1989–90

Artwork by Yves Gaucher composed of three abutted monochrome panels in primary yellow, blue and red with the middle blue panel slightly offset to be higher than the others.

Yellow, Blue & Red IV (Jaune, bleu & rouge IV), 1999

Print by Yves Gaucher depicting rough, flat stones. Smaller stones in light grey are layered on top of two larger, darker stones.

Asagao, 1961

Minimal print by Yves Gaucher of small boxes and lines, some filled in with black or grey ink and some left empty, debossed into a large sheet of otherwise empty white paper.

In Homage to Webern No. 2 (En hommage à Webern n° 2), 1963

Minimal, abstract painting by Yves Gaucher made on a square canvas and tilted 45 degrees to resemble a diamond. Its solid beige background is decorated with crisp, symmetrical lines arranged in Xs and painted in green and pink with small baby blue diamonds on either side of the central X. A thin green border runs along the edges of the canvas.

Le cercle de grande réserve, 1965

Minimalist abstract painting by Yves Gaucher with a solid red background. Short, thin horizontal lines, painted in blue and green, are arranged into three columns near the middle of the piece and appear in stacked pairs except for two green lines nearest to the centre. Thicker green lines appear on the top and bottom edges of the piece.

Dusk, Calm, Signals, 1966

Minimal, abstract painting by Yves Gaucher with a solid deep blue background. Short, thin horizontal lines, painted in two shades of dark green, are arranged near the top and side edges of the piece. A thicker green line appears running along the bottom edge.

Blue Raga, 1967

Minimal, abstract painting by Yves Gaucher with a solid grey background. Six short, thin horizontal lines, painted in two shades of light green, are sparsely arranged near the top and bottom of the piece.

Alap, 1967

Minimalist painting by Yves Gaucher consisting of a wide rectangular canvas divided into four equal horizontal stripes in solid shades of (from top to bottom) dark blue, dark grey, lighter blue, and lighter grey.

Two Blues, Two Greys, 1976

Minimalist diptych paintings by Yves Gaucher with each canvas divided diagonally into two areas, one solid black and one solid dark grey.

Jericho 1: An Allusion to Barnett Newman (Une allusion à Barnett Newman), 1978

Minimalist painting by Yves Gaucher of a long and wide canvas divided into six vertical stripes of solid colours (two low contrast dark greys, a blue, mauve, and two greens). The colours are divided mostly by perpendicular edges but the ones at the far ends are instead divided by subtlety articulated diagonals.

T.D.S., 1988

Minimalist painting by Yves Gaucher of a long and wide canvas divided into four solid colours (white, two off-whites, and a larger area of light blue in the centre). The colours are divided mostly by perpendicular edges but some are instead divided by subtlety articulated diagonals.

B2 + w Ps, 1989–90

Artwork by Yves Gaucher composed of three abutted monochrome panels in primary yellow, blue and red with the middle blue panel slightly offset to be higher than the others.

Yellow, Blue & Red IV (Jaune, bleu & rouge IV), 1999

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Online Exhibitions

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Composite image of two paintings. LEFT: an abstract image of brightly coloured tubes, cones, and circles. LEFT: A woman in profile in front of a brightly coloured background of lines and circles.
The 2025 Canadian Student Art inspiration Challenge

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Composite image of an aerial photograph of a river (left) and a surreal painting of blended city and mountain landscape (right).
The 2024 Canadian Student Art inspiration Challenge

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Composite of two paintings. LEFT: portrait of two youg women in front of water. RIGHT: portrait of a woman with a young child.
The 2023 Canadian Student Art inspiration Challenge

Celebrating Canada’s Future Artists

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An exhibition of works by Yves Gaucher