Gérard Schneider

Gérard Ernest Schneider was born on 28 April 1896 in Sainte-Croix, in the Swiss canton of Vaud, and went on to become one of the defining figures of Lyrical Abstraction and Tachisme in post-war Paris. He arrived in Paris around 1916 and pursued his formation at the École des Arts Décoratifs and the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied under Fernand Cormon. Settling permanently in the French capital in 1922 and acquiring French nationality in 1948, Schneider made Paris the centre of a long and consequential career that lasted until his death there in May 1986.

Schneider's work entered major institutional collections on both sides of the Atlantic, including SFMOMA in San Francisco, the Phillips Collection in Washington, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna in Turin. His historical gallery relationships extended from Samuel Kootz Gallery in New York to Bruno Lorenzelli in Milan, reflecting the international reach his painting achieved during the mid-twentieth century. A 1952 solo presentation at Galerie Otto Stangl in Munich stands among the documented exhibitions from that formative period.

Since 2012, the Estate of Gérard Schneider has been represented by Galerie Diane de Polignac in Paris, which has organised an extensive sequence of solo exhibitions devoted to distinct chapters of his output — among them 1945-1955 - De l'abstraction au lyrisme in 2017, La naissance du geste - Œuvres sur papier 1944-1959 in 2020, Lyrisme(s) in 2022, and Espaces colorés – Œuvres 1970-1978 in 2024. Galerie Perrotin, also in Paris, mounted a solo exhibition in 2022 and holds an estate representation role alongside Diane de Polignac. In 2024, Cardi Gallery in London presented a further solo exhibition, underscoring the sustained international interest in his legacy. The artist's family and the Gérard Schneider Archives jointly oversee the estate, and a catalogue raisonné of his work is currently in preparation, with Galerie Diane de Polignac assisting in its compilation. Authentication enquiries are directed through the Archives and Estate, which serve as the primary scholarly reference for his body of work.