Forms on Grey
- Artist: Paule Vézelay
- Date: 1935
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 1299 x 971 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Forms on Grey” by Paule Vézelay. Painted in 1935, the piece is an oil on canvas that sits somewhere between geometry and the hint of everyday objects. Though it looks like it could be a still‑life of vases or bowls, Vézelay insisted the shapes were wholly invented – not lifted from nature.
In the early 1930s she was living in Paris, where she had adopted the name Paule Vézelay to obscure her gender and nationality. That year she joined Abstraction‑Création, a loose group that fought for non‑figurative art. Their shows pushed artists toward pure form, and Vézelay’s work from this period is all about balance, rhythm, and the interplay of light and dark within simple shapes.
“Forms on Grey” plays with that balance: a series of curves and straight lines intersect, dividing the canvas into contrasting zones. The monochrome palette keeps the focus on composition, while the subtle references to familiar objects give the abstraction a touch of everyday familiarity.
It was bequeathed to the collection by the artist herself in 1985, preserving the spirit she intended for her invented forms.
See it in person
Forms on Grey is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
