Secondary Market
Bernard Aubertin
French, 1934–2015
Bernard Aubertin (1934–2015) was a French artist associated with the ZERO movement. Known for red monochromes, nail paintings and works made with fire, he explored the relationship between color, material and transformation, extending painting beyond the flat surface into relief and performance.
Red, Surface and Fire
Bernard Aubertin at Markowicz Fine Art
This selection focuses on a 1967 red monochrome with nails, considered alongside Bernard Aubertin’s wider exploration of color and surface. Contact Markowicz Fine Art for artwork details, documentation and viewing possibilities.
Biography
Bernard Aubertin (1934–2015) was a French artist whose work made red a sustained field of experimentation. Born in Fontenay-aux-Roses, he developed a practice that links monochrome painting with relief, material processes and actions involving fire.
Monochrome painting and ZERO
Aubertin’s encounter with Yves Klein in Paris in 1957 helped direct his attention towards monochrome painting. He joined the ZERO group in 1961, placing his work within an international conversation about the renewal of art through color, light and physical materials.
Nail paintings and works with fire
In his tableaux-clous, repeated nails interrupt the painted plane, giving the red surface a physical rhythm and depth. Light catches the projecting elements while shadows complicate the apparent uniformity of the monochrome. In the related tableaux-feu and other works involving combustion, the transformation of materials becomes part of the work itself. Aubertin’s practice therefore moves between a carefully constructed surface and an event whose traces remain visible.
An international exhibition history
Institutional presentations of Aubertin’s work include Cinq tableaux-feu at the Palais de Tokyo in 2012–2013 and the group exhibition ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s–60s at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2014–2015. In 2024, Bernard Aubertin: Rouge et plus at Kunstmuseum Reutlingen | konkret revisited the breadth of a practice extending beyond the artist’s signature color.
Selected institutional collections
- MAMAC, Nice — Composition rouge
- Kunstmuseum Reutlingen | konkret — works shown in the 2024 collection exhibition Bernard Aubertin: Rouge et plus
Exhibitions & art fairs
Museums
- Bernard Aubertin: Rouge et plusKunstmuseum Reutlingen | konkret, Reutlingen, Germany · 2024
- ZERO: Let Us Explore the StarsStedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands · 2015
- ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s–60sSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States · 2014–2015
- La nature des chosesMAMAC, Nice, France · 2013
- Cinq tableaux-feuPalais de Tokyo, Paris, France · Sep 2012 – Jan 2013