Blue Composition

André Lanskoy (born Andrei Mikhailovich Lanskoi, Moscow, March 31, 1902 – Paris, August 24, 1976) is one of the leading figures of lyrical abstraction and tachisme, a central artist of the Nouvelle École de Paris.

Born into an aristocratic Russian family, he fled his homeland in 1919 during the Revolution, passed through Kiev, and finally settled in Paris in 1921. He attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and was soon discovered by renowned collector Wilhelm Uhde, who exhibited his work at the Salon d’Automne in 1924. His first solo show took place in 1925, positioning him among the great artists of the Parisian avant-garde alongside Sonia and Robert Delaunay, Chagall and Zadkine.

Initially influenced by Soutine, Van Gogh, and Matisse, Lanskoy developed a highly expressive figurative style before moving radically toward abstraction in the late 1930s. By 1942, his painting embraced vivid colors, fragmented shapes, and gestural compositions where light and texture became the core subjects of his art.

A major postwar artist, Lanskoy exhibited widely across France, the United States, and Europe, participating notably in documenta II (1958) and documenta III (1964). Today, his works can be found in major institutions such as the Centre Pompidou and the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

On Art Shortlist, you can explore a curated selection of original works by André Lanskoy, carefully chosen for their quality, authenticity, and significance in the history of European abstraction.