Simon Hantaï’s personal archives

This article deals with the results of a preliminary catalogue of Simon Hantaï’s wonderfully rich collection of personal archives, left untouched in his studio at the time of his death. From 1984, as he voluntarily withdrew from the artistic scene and the public arena, Hantaï never actually ceased working. In the last fifteen years of his life, when he was particularly active, a large part of the work archived was created or else collected, manipulated and reused. These archives are part and parcel of Hantaï’s original creative process at the time, as he reassessed and continued his work.