Taking inspiration from the bold volumes of Romanesque architecture, Pierre Soulages built up his densely worked paintings in terms of structure and mass. As August 22, ’61 demonstrates, he often suffused his work with the complementary forces of gravity and buoyancy, while playing reflected light against his monochromatic dark palette. James Johnson Sweeney, former director of this museum, observed: “He starts from a single brush stroke—which invites another—this calls up another and another and another until out of their interplay form in born.”