In her work Edifices du Savoir , Sophie Dumont offers us a poetic exploration of form and matter through a subtly evocative abstraction. By choosing the title "Edifices du Savoir", the artist immediately directs our gaze towards a reflection on knowledge, its accumulation, and its transmission. The composition, built around vertical forms that seem erected like pillars or arranged books, summons the idea of a mental library, where each element would represent a piece of knowledge or memory.

The use of neutral tones – a palette of grays, off-whites, and muted browns – creates a silent, almost meditative atmosphere. This chromatic choice suggests an abstraction that is not aggressive, but contemplative. Dumont seems to want to avoid the brilliance of bright colors in favor of a more peaceful range, almost like an allusion to the materiality of old books, with paper yellowed or worn by time. This treatment of colors gives the work an impression of timelessness, reinforcing the idea that accumulated knowledge crosses the ages without being altered.

Technically, the painting is distinguished by its use of oil and collage, a combination that enriches the texture and density of the pictorial surface. The layers of material, sometimes thick, provide a tactile depth that invites the viewer to consider the work not only as a visual image, but as an object in its own right, almost sculptural. The collages, subtly integrated, bring an element of surprise and originality, suggesting a multiplicity of layers of meaning and content, just as a book or an archive contains different layers of meaning.

The irregular vertical forms, which could be interpreted as volumes of books or stacked blocks of knowledge, are treated with a certain roughness, revealing the textured edges and irregularities of the surface. This organic approach reflects the idea that knowledge is not perfect or immutable, but is built progressively, sometimes chaotically, with gaps, omissions, and imperfections. There is a beautiful analogy here between the materiality of painting and the nature of knowledge: both are human constructions, marked by time, wear, and the vagaries of existence.

The art historian might also see Edifices du Savoir as a discreet homage to the history of modernist painting, particularly to geometric abstraction and minimalist art of the mid-twentieth century. However, while these movements often sought to free themselves from narrative and figurative reference, Dumont reintroduces a discreet narrative dimension. His refined forms and reduced colors evoke not only modernist aesthetics, but also a profound reflection on the symbolic and emotional content that forms can carry. The work thus becomes a meeting place between the formal and the symbolic, between the visible and the invisible.

The wooden frame, which surrounds this canvas, acts as a natural extension of the work. It reinforces the idea that these "buildings" are precious, almost sacred objects, both solid and fragile, like human knowledge itself. The frame, far from being a simple support, becomes an integral part of the work, participating in its materiality and its presence.

In conclusion, Edifices du Savoir stands out as a meditation on time, memory and transmission. In this work, Sophie Dumont succeeds in creating a space for reflection where the materiality of painting and collage meets the intellectual abstraction of knowledge. It is a work that, through its apparent simplicity, opens up a field of infinite resonances, inviting the viewer to question the way in which we construct, preserve and transmit knowledge through the ages.

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