Peinture mescalinienne

Henri Michaux’s idiosyncratic practice spanned writing, painting and drawing. There are many links with Surrealism – he experimented with both language and visual expression to explore inner states – but he is not formally part of the movement. In 1922, reading Lautréamont’s Songs of Maldoror inspired his first text, Cas de folie circulaire (Cases of Circular Madness), and it was the discovery of Paul Klee’s work that led him to drawing, printmaking and painting in 1925. From 1955 to 1961, Michaux experimented with hallucinogens, particularly mescaline, to discover unexplored states of consciousness. His Mescaline Drawings capture this, translating a drug-addled mind into labyrinthine, oscillating forms.