HELENE BAILLY MARCILHAC is an art gallery in Paris that exhibits works from the lyrical abstraction movement, featuring artists such as Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu, Chu Teh-Chun, and Zao Wou-Ki.

Lyrical abstraction emerged in postwar Europe, driven by a desire to break away from the rigidity of constructivism and to respond to the trauma of conflict. The term first appeared in 1947 in the writings of critic Charles Estienne, and was fully developed in the 1950s, notably by Estienne himself and by Georges Mathieu, an artist and passionate advocate of free, gestural painting.

This movement emphasizes spontaneity, color, and emotional impulse. It is no longer about representing reality, but rather about expressing an inner vibration. Mathieu, a major figure in the movement, transformed painting into performance: he painted standing up, quickly, sometimes in front of an audience, creating swift, dynamic forms. Alongside him, Hans Hartung developed a more restrained form of abstraction, characterized by tense graphic rhythms and incisive strokes.

Opposed to rigid geometric forms, lyrical abstraction explores a free and often improvised visual language, where gesture is as meaningful as the image itself. It draws on emotion, instinct, and even spirituality, turning the canvas into a space for projecting the inner self and marking a radical departure from the rational codes of academic art.