Charles Lapicque (1898-1988) was a French painter.
He studied at the École Centrale in Paris, from which he graduated, and painted on his own.
It will be described as Abstract, Figurative, Cubist or Fauve, but will not be linked to any current.
In 1931, he accepted a position as a preparatory officer at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris and thus took advantage of the laboratory to carry out research on colors.
In 1939, he developed the “grid system”, a derivative of Fauvism, Cubism and Medieval Art, which was the culmination of his optical and pictorial discoveries.
In 1943, he abandoned his career as a scientist to devote himself to his art.
Contrary to the dominant trends, in the 1950s he showed his attachment to Figuration, while making some attempts in Abstract Art.
His favorite themes are the sea, rocks, sailboats, sailing boats, music, tennis, horses, beasts, knights, and kings.
The great art critic Pierre Restany considered him to be one of the five masters of French painting.
It is considered that his works on color published in “Essays on Space, Art and Destiny” (Grasset, 1958) have influenced artists such as Bazaine, Manessier, but also Rancillac, Arroyo, Di Rosa, Di Rosa, Di Rosa, Boisrond, Combas or even Dubuffet.

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” Long scientific studies led me to consider red, orange and yellow as colors that were always ready to brighten, to become brighter and blue, on the contrary, as a color that was inevitably destined to darken, to appear blacker. The result was a definite advantage in representing solid, heavy and closely spaced bodies in blue and in reserving red, orange or yellow for luminous or distant bodies, such as the sky. ”
Charles Lapicque