Auguste Herbin (1882-1960) French

Architect of Abstraction, Master of Geometric Harmony, and Visionary of the Plastic Alphabet

At Bailly Gallery, we celebrate the artists who redefined the language of modernity—visionaries who not only challenged tradition, but constructed new systems of beauty, order, and thought. Among them, Auguste Herbin stands out as one of the great pioneers of geometric abstraction, a radical innovator whose rigorous aesthetic and chromatic precision laid the foundation for a new era of visual art.

Born in Quiévy, France, in 1882, Herbin studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lille, and began his career aligned with Post-Impressionism and Fauvism. By 1909, after moving to Paris and exhibiting at the Salon des Indépendants, he began to transition toward a more analytical style, absorbing the influences of Cubism and Cézanne. But Herbin's true artistic rupture—and enduring legacy—would come through his commitment to pure abstraction.

A founding member of the Abstraction-Création group in the 1930s, Herbin rejected figurative content altogether, embracing geometry, symmetry, and pure color as the essential elements of artistic expression. His canvases became architectonic compositions of circles, triangles, rectangles, and planes—rigorously constructed and suffused with luminous, harmonized color. He was not simply painting forms; he was building a new visual syntax.

Herbin’s most significant contribution was the creation of his “Alphabet Plastique” in the late 1940s—a systematic theory that linked letters, colors, musical notes, and forms. Through this synesthetic framework, Herbin sought to create a universal language of art, one in which abstract painting could communicate with clarity and emotional resonance, even beyond cultural or linguistic boundaries. This fusion of constructivist logic and spiritual aspiration placed Herbin in close philosophical dialogue with artists such as Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.

Though rigorously intellectual, Herbin’s work remains visually joyous. His late paintings—marked by radiant contrasts, rhythmic balance, and formal purity—are among the most striking achievements of 20th-century abstraction. They offer both order and lyricism, inviting viewers into a world where structure and imagination coexist.
Today, Herbin’s works are held in major institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Stedelijk Museum, and the MoMA, among others. His importance as a theorist and practitioner of abstract art continues to grow, particularly among collectors and scholars committed to understanding the full trajectory of modernism.

At Bailly Gallery, we are proud to present Auguste Herbin as a master of disciplined innovation. His art stands at the intersection of science and poetry—a visual language both timeless and universal, where geometry becomes music and color becomes thought.