The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 24, 2025
Composition
1934
(French, 1904–1987)
Framed: 131.1 x 163.4 x 3.8 cm (51 5/8 x 64 5/16 x 1 1/2 in.); Unframed: 130.8 x 161.9 cm (51 1/2 x 63 3/4 in.)
Gift of Dorothy Tremaine Hildt 2003.428
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde
Did You Know?
While fighting for the French army during World War II, Jean Hélion was taken prisoner and sent to a camp in Pomerania and then Stettin. He escaped and made his way to France and then the United States where he published an account of his experience, They Shall Not Have Me, in 1943.Description
In the spring of 1934, Jean Hélion made a series of four paintings in which, for the first time, he combined several interlocking, abstract forms in a densely organized, allover design. This painting belongs to that series and features a carefully balanced arrangement of forms which appear to be floating free in space in harmony with one another. In Paris, Hélion shared a studio with Joaquín Torres-García who introduced him to Cubism and abstraction and became acquainted with Piet Mondrian.- (Valentine Dudensing Gallery); Miller Company, Meriden, CT, 1945; Mr. and Mrs. Burton G.Tremaine, Meriden, CT; Mrs. Dorothy T. Hildt by descent.
- Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT: The Tremaine Collection: 20th Century Masterpieces, 1984.Museum of Modern Art: Painting Toward Architecture, 1948. Also traveled to: Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford Connecticut; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston.
- {{cite web|title=Composition|url=false|author=Jean Hélion|year=1934|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.428