
Personnages au bord de la mer
1952
Nicolas de Staël's 1952 oil painting 'Personnages au bord de la mer' captures figures at the seaside through the artist's distinctive geometric abstraction infused with color and light. The work reflects de Staël's unique synthesis of abstraction and observed reality.
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
20th Century & Contemporary Art, Evening Sale Part II
November 14, 2023
More by Nicolas de Staël
Artists in conversation

Jean Hélion
French · b. 1904

Hélion similarly navigated the tension between abstraction and figuration in post-war France, using bold geometric forms and seaside or everyday scenes rendered with a luminous, modernist palette that closely mirrors de Staël's approach in this work.

Patrick Heron
British · b. 1920

Heron shared de Staël's commitment to gestural abstraction infused with observed coastal light and color, producing richly painted canvases where figures and landscapes dissolve into luminous geometric blocks of color reminiscent of this seaside composition.

Roger Hilton
British · b. 1911

Hilton produced gestural post-war abstractions that frequently evoked figures and seascapes through simplified geometric forms and expressive brushwork, sharing de Staël's serene yet modernist synthesis of the human presence within coastal environments.
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