Geer van Velde (Dutch, 1898-1977)

Geer van Velde was self-taught as a painter.
From 1904 until 1924 he lived in The Hague, where he was apprenticed to the decorating firm of Kramer.
In his spare time he painted subjects from nature.
In 1925 he followed his brother to Paris.
Influenced by Marc Chagall he painted abstract motifs in a clear colouring, adapted from his environment, for example Palette and Brushes (1925-30; Paris, Pompidou).
After 1930 he experimented extensively, developing a painting style characterized by a systematic relationship between large shapes.
In 1937 van Velde met the playwright Samuel Beckett.
In the year of his first one-man exhibition, at the Guggenheim Jeune Gallery in London (1939), he settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where he created works that became the basis for his post-war development: a progression from recognizable imagery towards abstract-geometric paintings, which was preceded by changes in his drawings and gouaches.