Nicolas de Stael

Sometime in 1940 he must have met his future gallery owner Jeanne Bucher, as well as the artists Alberto Magnelli, Sonia Delaunay, Hans Arp and Le Corbusier. In September 1942, the de Staël family moved to Paris and Nicolas started working completely abstractly. His first exhibition took place at Galerie Jeanne Bucher, as well as the second (1944), in the company of the painters Wassily Kandinsky and César Domela Nieuwenhuis. After the liberation of Paris (still with Bucher) in 1945, the first recognition for his work came at a solo exhibition. He got to know the painters André Lanskoy and Georges Braque and joined the 'Nouvelle École de Paris'. In 1946 Jeannine died and later in the year he married Françoise Chapouton. They settled in a larger studio and regularly received Georges Braque. Thanks to influential relations, the international art market, especially the American one, began to open up to De Staël step by step (including in New York). The major museums in London, Paris, New York, Washington, etc., also began to show interest in his work and he signed a new contract with the Parisian gallerist Louis Carré. The demand for works by De Staël increased enormously and trips to the United States became part of the regular pattern.